District Four, General Hospital.
"The current diagnosis is mental disorder and disordered consciousness. His brainwaves are showing a very strange pattern, and we can't determine the cause."
The doctor spoke with his head slightly lowered.
Chen Yuque gave a soft "Mm," carefully examining the young man on the hospital bed. He merely stared blankly with wide-open eyes, turning a deaf ear and blind eye to everything around him.
He was Eldest Senior Brother's cousin, a handyman at the Martial Arts Academy.
"Strange."
Chen Yuque murmured. After thinking for a moment, she placed her hand against the young man's forehead and silently visualized both herself and him as skeletons.
A Visualization Method concerned [spirit], [will], and even [soul]. She wanted to see whether she could uncover the change that had occurred in this young man.
The doctor stepped farther away.
Time trickled by bit by bit. Chen Yuque's talent was not poor to begin with. If not for the Great Accomplishment level of [I Observe as I Should Be], which required at least ten years to nurture her spirit, and at least ten years to cultivate the White Bone Meditation,
she would have long since cultivated the Dense White Bone Contemplation to Great Accomplishment.
At this moment, all that separated her from Great Accomplishment was the accumulation of time.
Within her visualization,
her body gradually decayed, and the young man on the bed decayed alongside her. In the end, both became two grim white skeletons.
She gradually sensed the young man's spiritual fluctuations and became, to a certain extent, "synchronized" with them, even slowly "connected" to them.
That was, seeing what he saw, thinking what he thought.
It was a lengthy process.
Half an hour later.
"It worked."
The red-haired girl murmured. Before her hazy eyes, she saw the thing that had been constantly stimulating the young man's mind and will.
It was... a skeleton.
A skeleton seated cross-legged, with its five centers facing the heavens. Neither sorrowful nor joyful, neither sullied nor pure, every segment of its crystalline bones gave off a dim radiance.
At its side crawled countless corpses packed densely together. Some still had intact flesh and blood, some were half-rotted and half-decayed, while others were simply grim white skeletons.
They crawled toward it.
They were worshipping it.
Whoosh!
The seemingly endless corpses abruptly raised their heads and stared fixedly at Chen Yuque. Roaring and shrieking, they charged toward her amid an aura of utter misery!
Chen Yuque's scalp went numb. She activated the Dense White Bone Contemplation and violently broke free from the spiritual illusion.
She staggered back several steps, gasping for air in great mouthfuls.
"So that was it."
Cold sweat drenched Chen Yuque. The young man had encountered someone cultivating the Dense White Bone Contemplation, and his spirit had been overwhelmed by the other party's overflowing mental force.
But the problem was—
"Great Perfection White Bone Meditation with Bone Radiance!"
"Who was it?"
Chen Yuque hurriedly made a call.
"Master, hurry to the General Hospital in District Four!"
A dark alley, an inconspicuous little clinic.
Basement.
The youth was practicing his fist technique. Every punch and kick was heavy and powerful, the gusts they detonated howling like the low growl of a mountain tiger.
Tiger Roar Fist.
His fist wind came with tiger roars, echoing through the cramped basement and sweeping up the years of dust gathered in the corners.
The dust floated up, tumbling and tumbling within the fist wind.
As the youth planted his feet, one palm held before his abdomen while his other hand clenched into a fist and dropped sharply into it—he closed the form, or rather, completed its final form.
The dust caught in the fist wind also crashed together, bursting before him into the shape of a roaring tiger's head.
The dust settled.
To Zhang Fusheng's surprise, Zhong Shan had truly cultivated this fist technique to an exceedingly high level.
Perfection.
A fist technique at the level of Perfection.
"Tiger Roar Fist."
He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, and thunder rumbled through his sinews and bones.
It was as though he had truly practiced the Tiger Roar Fist for more than ten thousand days and nights. Every last detail of the technique was not only engraved in his mind, but branded upon his body.
"Before his death, Old Zhong had already touched upon the [true intent] of the Tiger Roar Fist. If he hadn't been terminally ill, perhaps he really could have cultivated something like fist intent."
Zhang Fusheng carefully savored the details of the Tiger Roar Fist.
When tigers hunted, they generally ambushed their prey. They did not roar, hiding like lurking assassins and seeking to strike true in a single blow.
In truth, all felines rather enjoyed ambushes.
When a tiger roared through the mountains and forests, however, it was often declaring its majesty, intimidating the enemy before it, or else... fighting to the death head-on.
The Tiger Roar Fist was a fist technique that emphasized head-on combat, broad and unrestrained in its movements.
"Fist techniques ought to have levels. Which level does the Tiger Roar Fist belong to?"
Zhang Fusheng muttered to himself.
"Even if it's the lowest level, a Perfection-level technique is probably already quite remarkable."
He began practicing the Tiger Roar Fist again. His fist wind stirred the dust, gathering it before him into a hazy, roaring tiger's head.
Though the image formed from dust was blurry, it was filled with details belonging to a real tiger.
Even the character for "king" on the tiger's forehead could faintly be seen.
"If I can take another step forward and reach the [Limit-Breaking] level above Perfection, perhaps the tiger head outlined by my fist wind will become lifelike."
He withdrew his move, his fist striking into his palm. The tiger head exploded with a boom and became tiny specks of dust scattered throughout every corner of the room once more.
Sitting down, Zhang Fusheng gulped down a large mouthful of water and panted lightly.
"Ten-thirty."
There was still half an hour until eleven.
What should he do about that girl Zhong Yue?
Zhang Fusheng fell silent. She knew he was not her grandfather, and he knew she was not his granddaughter.
Yet she still asked him when he would next go see her.
She missed her grandfather too much.
"The human heart..." Zhang Fusheng sighed softly. How had Zhong Shan's bastard of a son raised such a daughter?
Come to think of it, Zhong Yue was a freshman at Jiang University. She couldn't possibly also be from Linshu Middle School, could she?
He probably wouldn't run into her at the Jiang University Banquet in mid-July, would he?
Zhang Fusheng jolted and hurriedly sent Zhu Xiaoming a message.
A moment later.
Zhu Xiaoming: What is it? Logging on?
Zhang Fusheng: At the Jiang University Banquet in the middle of the month, is there someone named Zhong Yue?
Zhu Xiaoming: You really asked the right person.
Zhu Xiaoming: My dad just sponsored the Jiang University Banquet. Wait a second, I'll check the guest list for you!
After a while longer.
Zhu Xiaoming: There is, man, there is!
Zhu Xiaoming: A girl from Class Nine. She got into the same department as you, the Computer Science Department.
Zhu Xiaoming: I checked her photo. She's pretty cute. Are you planning to make your move early and end your single life?
Zhu Xiaoming: Oh, right. How are things at the Martial Arts Academy?
Zhang Fusheng: Progress is alright. I'm already at First Refinement.
Zhu Xiaoming: Mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm. You're right.
Zhu Xiaoming: By the way, have you taken a fancy to that Zhong Yue? Want me to be your wingman?
Looking at Zhu Xiaoming's string of messages, Zhang Fusheng rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. But on second thought, he was not planning to seriously study anyway, so it did not really matter.
To Zhang Fusheng, Jiang University was more of a "platform."
A platform for coming into contact with geniuses, a platform for buying, selling, and trading.
The reason he had specifically assumed Zhong Shan's identity
was actually also inspired by Jiangzhou University.
In his previous life, many world-renowned universities had fraternities. At the beginning, those clubs had merely been formed by students.
Yet later, they developed into behemoths lurking in the shadows, even permeating the upper classes of nations across the world.
The most famous of them all was Yale University's Skull and Bones Society.
Of course, it was not limited to universities. In his previous life, there had also been an extremely famous secret society called the Illuminati, or the Enlightened Society.
Before he reincarnated, the Illuminati had once again become widely known because of an incident involving a certain island.
Zhang Fusheng wondered whether he could create a similar organization as well.
After all, relying on one person alone was simply too weak, and the efficiency of trading was extremely low. But what if it was a group of people?
Although the Contract Book required a cooldown after every use, Star Beast Meat could shorten or even eliminate that waiting time!
It was entirely feasible!
As his thoughts turned, he casually replied to Zhu Xiaoming with two messages and arranged to have a small meal together sometime tomorrow or the day after. By then, it was eleven o'clock.
Movement sounded from upstairs, accompanied by conversation.
"Mm, that Zhang Fusheng is from Linshu Middle School. I've already got people looking into him. It isn't just because we need him to transport goods—the main thing is, I don't like that guy's attitude."
Zhang Fusheng abruptly sat upright.
That voice... Zhou Quan?
The next moment, someone knocked on the clinic door upstairs, followed by the shout of another person speaking with Zhou Quan.
"Doctor Zhang, time to pay the protection money!"
Before you continue