The storage cabinet was over two meters tall and divided into five layers.
It was packed neatly with transparent boxes. There were as many as a hundred transparent boxes visible on the outermost layer!
Seeing this, Shi Fen didn't hesitate. He immediately opened the other eleven cabinets near the "trash can." They were all filled with transparent boxes, packed neatly and tightly inside.
In the upper-left corner of one cabinet, there was an empty space where a box should have been. That missing box was in Shi Fen's hand.
Stunned by the sight before him, Shi Fen dropped onto the floor as if his soul had left his body. "Have I struck it rich?"
In his eyes, these weren't "storage cards."
They were neatly stacked gold bars!
Shi Fen quickly got to his feet. Using his Spiritual Force, he took every transparent box out of the cabinet with the empty space and set them on the ground.
"Oh my god, there are a thousand of them. That's ten million storage cards!"
Shi Fen was stunned by his teacher's generosity.
He took all the boxes out of the other eleven cabinets too, inspecting the labels one by one.
A thousand boxes were labeled "one trillion kilometers long, wide, and high."
A thousand boxes were labeled "one hundred million kilometers long, wide, and high."
Ten thousand boxes were labeled "ten thousand kilometers long, wide, and high."
There were one hundred and twenty million storage cards in total. Ten million of them were storage cards measuring one trillion kilometers long, wide, and high! Storage cards were far, far more powerful than World Rings of the same level.
Their value was incalculable.
Unfortunately, he couldn't even open the boxes. At least he could touch and use a World Ring.
After putting all the boxes back, Shi Fen left the Image World and headed to his Inner World.
It was a matter of safety. If he entered the Treasure Refining World from his Inner World, the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror wouldn't be floating outside, and no one would discover his secret.
After entering the Treasure Refining World, Shi Fen headed straight for the cabinets near the "trash can." With a mixture of trepidation and anticipation, he opened one and saw it was packed with transparent boxes.
"So it really is true."
Only after seeing them did he finally relax. He had been afraid his teacher was "messing" with him. Now that he had seen the boxes with his own eyes, he could finally put his mind at ease. He reached out to take one down and examine it, but the transparent box wouldn't budge. No matter how hard he tried, it didn't move at all.
He tried to put the little box into his World Ring, but the ring didn't work.
"Looks like my teacher won't let me take them away."
He changed tactics and tried to use the World Power of his ring to help move it, but the little box still wouldn't budge.
"Damn it." Unable to move it even a fraction, he tried another target: a transparent box labeled "ten thousand kilometers long, wide, and high." He used his World Power to move it.
He poured all his Spiritual Force into the World Ring, condensing it into an extremely powerful strand of World Power. Shi Fen focused it on the transparent little box, hoping to pull it free with a single tug.
Only when Shi Fen gave it everything he had did the transparent little box finally begin to "tremble" as it left its place. His Spiritual Force was soon exhausted, and he could no longer control the box. With a deafening CRASH, it slammed onto the floor.
The noise startled Shi Fen.
"So the real little boxes are this heavy." Only then did he realize his teacher had tampered with the little boxes in the Image Space, changing their weight so Shi Fen could move them easily.
He didn't want the little box sitting on the floor, "in the way" and ruining the neat atmosphere. He crouched beside it and strained with all his might, but it didn't budge an inch.
His Spiritual Force was completely drained. It had already been difficult to pull the box free; putting it back would be even harder.
"Ugh." Shi Fen let out a sigh.
In his excitement, he'd created a "huge problem" for himself.
"Being a neat freak really isn't a good thing."
He was terribly conflicted and could do nothing about it. All he could do was leave.
"Out of sight, out of mind."
He searched through every cabinet in the Treasure Refining World that he could open. With high hopes, he inspected them one by one.
In the end, he didn't find any more transparent boxes.
"One hundred and twenty million is plenty. Finding more would be useless if I can't use them, so I'd better focus on comprehending Secret Patterns." Shi Fen poked fun at himself.
Before getting started on the Secret Patterns, he tried out the "driving" function of the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror in his Inner World. The mirror flew very fast. Using his control over the Inner World, he roughly calculated its speed at between 1,316 times the speed of sound.
"There's no feeling of acceleration from gravity, but it's pretty fun. I'll take it for a spin every now and then to relax."
After summing things up, Shi Fen sat cross-legged in his Inner World, adjusting the gravity to a level he could comfortably withstand. Breathing in the dense cosmic energy, he began to digest and organize the information in Basic Secret Patterns.
Basic Secret Patterns contained 10,081 basic Secret Patterns and 360 basic Secret Pattern Diagrams.
Put simply,
Basic Secret Patterns were "lines" with different textures. Some were two-dimensional "line segments," while others were three-dimensional "strands of yarn."
These 10,081 "lines" held a vast amount of information. From simple to complex, they explained the fundamental rules of the universe. The different textures of the Secret Patterns represented different functions.
When used in Treasure Refining, they could grant all kinds of abilities.
For example, they could increase sharpness, durability, and resilience, or improve energy-gathering efficiency.
The 360 basic Secret Pattern Diagrams were combinations of basic Secret Patterns.
A Secret Pattern Diagram usually consisted of several basic Secret Patterns with different functions. Most diagrams had several abilities. Used in Treasure Refining, they could grant several attribute enhancements at once.
The 360 diagrams ranged from simple to complex, starting with combinations of simple two-dimensional "line segments," then progressing to combinations of three-dimensional "strands of yarn" arranged in planes. The final diagram was the most complex three-dimensional combination of all.
The last diagram was especially unique. To comprehend the other 359 diagrams, one only needed to master all 10,081 basic Secret Patterns and spend some time studying how to combine them.
The final Secret Pattern Diagram tested not only one's ability to calculate but also an extraordinarily high level of comprehension.
What Shi Fen was doing now was reading through all the information first, just to get a general impression. It took him seven days to "gulp down" all of it.
On the fifth day of studying the Secret Pattern information, his body finished its transformation.
Shi Fen gained the ability to split his consciousness.
From that day on, Shi Fen settled into an incredibly regular routine.
Most of his consciousness focused on digesting the information about the Basic Secret Patterns in the Image Space. With the rest of his consciousness, he controlled his body. During the day, he carried on as usual, studying the Secret Patterns whenever he could.
Whenever no one was home, he hid the "Black Mirror" in a corner, entered the Treasure Refining World, then went from there into his Inner World. When he returned from his Inner World, he would arrive directly in the Treasure Refining World. He would check the outside through the Black Mirror to make sure no one was around, then come out.
Caution had gradually become ingrained in Shi Fen's subconscious.
He built a simple shack in his Inner World.
Whenever no one was home, he studied Secret Patterns inside the shack. This allowed him to strengthen his body gradually with gravity and cosmic energy. Since he had no cultivation method and still wanted to keep a low profile, this was the only way he could improve his physical fitness.
As an "old hand" who had lived for more than eighty years,
Shi Fen knew very well that comprehending Secret Patterns was the most important thing at the moment. He had a three-year deadline for his special reward, so for the sake of that reward, he temporarily gave up on becoming a Martial Artist.
Shi Fen was very satisfied with how quickly his strength in the Inner World was growing.
For the first two weeks, he had no idea how to comprehend the Basic Secret Patterns. After two weeks, he still hadn't figured out even the first Secret Pattern.
But he soon found a solution. He treated each Secret Pattern as a difficult theoretical physics problem and used the same approach he'd use to solve one.
After all, theoretical physics also explained the rules of the universe; it simply used different methods and forms.
This way of looking at it was undeniably clever.
Using this method, he solved the first ten "problems" in just one week. He was also calculating faster and faster. At this rate, he would be able to solve more problems with every passing week.
For this, Shi Fen bought a large number of physics resources, along with piles of paper and stationery. He stayed home, hardly ever stepping outside, and relied on takeout or on his mother, Li Ziyi, to come over and cook for him.
Shi Fen's relatives had noticed the unusual changes in him early on. After forging on April 16, Shi Fen had spent three or four days alone in the Cultivation Room. Once he returned home, he barely went out and stopped joining them for dinner.
Shi Fen seemed to have lost his soul. He neither ate nor slept, and no one knew what he was thinking. They were worried sick. Li Ziyi simply started bringing him food at the same time every day and checking up on him.
This went on for three weeks.
Once Shi Fen started doing frantic calculations on paper,
they finally felt reassured.
Although they couldn't understand a thing he wrote, they could read the titles of those advanced physics books. A quick search was all it took to figure it out.
Shi Fen was studying something new.
This was Shi Fen's usual "mad scientist" state. Ever since he was a child, whenever he got engrossed in a book, he was just like this. So Li Ziyi brought him three meals at the usual times every day and let him indulge in his "madness."
Soon, the college entrance exam arrived.
A few days earlier, Shi Tie had come to see Shi Fen, feeling uneasy. He asked if Shi Fen was going to take the exam.
With just a few words and a short video, Shi Fen put Shi Tie's mind at ease. His father stopped interfering and let Shi Fen "get on with his work."
"Dad, my physical fitness is almost at the Quasi-Fighter level. The last time I went to the Martial Arts Hall, I hit 869 kilograms."
The video showed Shi Fen striking the Punch Strength Tester with his fist. At the end, it showed the data displayed on the tester: 869 kilograms.
Shi Fen had asked Luo Feng to record the video on his phone.
For the sake of safety, Shi Fen had thrown the camera he'd used last time into the Treasure Refining World and never taken it out again. He planned to destroy it later, to eliminate any possibility of information leaking.
When Luo Feng recorded the video for Shi Fen, he was genuinely taken aback. Shi Fen was his good friend, sure, but in his eyes, Shi Fen was a genius who loved to "cultivate in seclusion," enjoyed studying and forging, and wasn't all that interested in training.
He hadn't expected Shi Fen to surpass him the moment he came out of seclusion. What's more, Shi Fen's punch strength was a full fifty or sixty kilograms higher than his own. Luo Feng found it hard to accept.
Luo Feng pressed Shi Fen to explain why his strength had improved so quickly.
Shi Fen grinned and told Luo Feng that forging every day with a hammer weighing hundreds of kilograms was a surefire way to build strength.
Hearing this, Luo Feng couldn't help thinking that Shi Fen was a freak. He would never be able to train like that. In the end, he dropped the subject and went back to his own training methods.
869 kilograms.
Of course, this wasn't Shi Fen's full strength. It was the figure he'd deliberately shown to save himself trouble and fool his family.
That "all-out punch" of 869 kilograms was the result of careful testing. For him, that level of strength was neither too high nor too low; it was just right to spare him countless headaches.
He had no idea what his limit was.
There were too many people at the Martial Arts Hall, so Shi Fen didn't dare test his limits. If he exposed himself, he wouldn't be able to maintain his low-key lifestyle.
All he wanted now was to focus on studying Secret Patterns.
Besides, he could steadily improve his physical fitness in his Inner World, and his progress wasn't slow. He didn't need Five Hearts Towards Heaven to keep increasing his strength. So he wasn't in a hurry to take the assessment, become a Martial Artist, and obtain the Genetic Origin Energy cultivation method, Five Hearts Towards Heaven.
With Shi Fen's strength, he could easily pass the Extreme Martial Arts Hall's assessment and become a Martial Artist.
Time was tight. The special reward that "Yi" had arranged was only available for three years. Shi Fen couldn't afford to waste even a moment.
Becoming a Martial Artist involved a complicated process. Afterward, he would inevitably have to enter the Wilderness Area, which would waste even more time.
Given the situation, it was better to avoid complications. He could become a Martial Artist later.
What was the point of becoming a "Martial Artist," anyway?
Wasn't Yi's inheritance better than anything else?
With Yi's inheritance, Shi Fen had a very broad perspective. He didn't care at all about money or status on Earth. And if he wanted, he could always find a "suitable opportunity" to reveal his strength in one explosive display.
The initiative was entirely in his hands.
Shi Fen ignored both the college entrance exam and the Quasi-Fighter and Martial Artist assessments, and continued his "problem-solving" routine.
Before you continue