Yang Xixi

As Chen Lie lounged in his chair, his gaze wandering, he saw someone enter the shop.

Chen Lie rose from his chair and saw that the newcomer was a girl of seventeen or eighteen.

Assuming she was here to buy martial arts techniques, he said, "Are you here to buy Psionic Crystal Cards? There are many types of martial arts techniques in the display case. Take your time choosing."

The girl ignored Chen Lie and looked around. When she found that no one besides him was in the shop, she asked, "Who are you? Where's my dad?"

Only then did Chen Lie realize what was going on. He asked, "Is your father Yang Shen?"

The girl did not answer. She simply stared fixedly at Chen Lie with her wide eyes.

At that moment, Yang Shen entered the shop carrying a bag. Upon seeing the girl, he said, "Xixi, you're back?"

"Dad!"

The girl immediately ran behind Yang Shen and pointed at Chen Lie. "Dad, who is this? Why was he alone in our shop just now, acting so suspiciously?"

"Don't be rude!"

Yang Shen immediately reprimanded his daughter. He set what he was carrying on the counter and explained to Chen Lie, "Little Brother Chen, this is my daughter, Yang Xixi. She's usually a bit lively, so please don't take offense."

Chen Lie waved his hand, indicating that he did not mind.

"Xixi, the person before you is a Mind Reader, Chen Lie. You should call him Senior from now on," Yang Shen said.

"A Mind Reader?"

Yang Xixi looked at Chen Lie in astonishment.

Having grown up, she had never seen a Mind Reader before. Sometimes, she could not help wondering whether there were even any Mind Readers in East River Province.

Now that she had seen a living Mind Reader, she naturally found it immensely surprising.

"Hello, Senior. My name is Yang Xixi. I'm a senior in Elite Class 1 at East River Provincial Key High School. You... are you really a Mind Reader?"

Chen Lie nodded. "We're from the same school. You don't need to call me Senior. Just call me a fellow student."

"The same school?"

Yang Xixi was doubtful and bewildered. There was actually a Mind Reader at their school? How had she not known?

Moreover, her Elite Class 1 instructor had mentioned during class that Mind Readers could not possibly exist at their school, or at any martial arts high school in East River Province.

Every Mind Reader was bound to possess outstanding talent and be among the very best in martial arts cultivation, yet she clearly had never seen Chen Lie's name on the Top 100 Elite Student Rankings.

Though puzzled, Yang Xixi still said, "That won't do. My dad calls you Little Brother Chen, so if I call you a fellow student, wouldn't that mess up the generations? I'd better call you Senior."

"Whatever you like," Chen Lie said indifferently.

Seeing this, Yang Xixi immediately pressed on, "Senior, may I ask, are all Mind Readers born that way?"

"Of course not."

"Then why are Mind Readers so rare?"

Yang Shen hurriedly stopped Yang Xixi. "Xixi, don't ask questions like that!"

How could ordinary people like them come into contact with the secrets of Mind Readers? He immediately stopped his daughter from speaking so freely.

Yang Xixi stuck out her tongue and shut her mouth.

"Little Brother Chen, this girl speaks without thinking. Please don't lower yourself to her level."

Chen Lie nodded and said, "It's fine."

Before long, Yang Shen finished packaging all fifteen sets of Crystal Cards and placed them in the display case.

He took one set from the fifteen and gave it to Yang Xixi.

"Xixi, aren't you practicing the Army-Breaking Fist? This is a set of Army-Breaking Fist Crystal Cards. Take it and use it."

"Dad? You have Army-Breaking Fist Crystal Cards? Didn't you say the Army-Breaking Fist had always been out of stock?"

Yang Xixi took the Crystal Cards and could not help asking.

"It's all thanks to Little Brother Chen. He inscribed the Army-Breaking Fist onto blank Crystal Cards."

As Yang Shen spoke, he suddenly said, "All right, let's close the shop for a while. We'll go eat at a martial arts restaurant."

Led by Yang Shen, Chen Lie entered a simply decorated restaurant.

The moment they entered, the people in the restaurant greeted Yang Shen.

"Old Yang, bringing your daughter here for another medicinal beast meat meal? But with the medicinal herbs you stored here last time, you can only make two more medicinal beast meat meals at most."

Yang Shen nodded with a smile. "Make both medicinal beast meat meals today, and add a few nourishing dishes."

"Two medicinal beast meat meals? Something good happen?"

Yang Shen waved his hands repeatedly. "What good news could there be?"

"Your daughter's vitality and blood broke through again, right? Ah, that girl of yours really saves you worry. Before even reaching her second year of high school, she entered the elite class, and now her vitality and blood has broken through one hundred cards so early. Unlike mine, who's still lingering in an ordinary senior class."

"All right, enough talk. Have a seat first. The medicinal beast meat meals will be ready soon!"

With that, the restaurant staff headed for the kitchen.

"Little Brother Chen, come, sit!"

Yang Shen found a table and immediately invited Chen Lie to sit down.

After they sat, Yang Shen poured Chen Lie a glass of water.

"Little Brother Chen said you and Xixi are from the same school. Are you also a student at East River Provincial Key High School?"

"That's right," Chen Lie said.

"You're a Mind Reader, so your martial arts accomplishments must surpass Xixi's. Could you perhaps give her some guidance?" Yang Shen asked.

Chen Lie asked, "What's wrong with her?"

Yang Shen tapped the table in front of Yang Xixi, signaling for her to speak.

Yang Xixi hurriedly said, "After my vitality and blood broke past one hundred cards some time ago, it feels as if there are no bottlenecks anymore. As long as I take supplements, my vitality and blood rises quickly.

"But accordingly, the higher my vitality and blood gets, the more my strength declines. I asked my instructor about it too. He said it was normal, that he went through the same thing back then, and that I just needed to keep my strength from falling too much. But I still can't put my mind at ease."

Chen Lie said, "Your situation is indeed normal. Your vitality and blood has reached a certain level, and your bodily functions have improved dramatically, so your vitality and blood rises faster and faster.

"However, having inflated vitality and blood like this isn't a good thing. If your strength cannot maintain a certain ratio with your vitality and blood, then you'd be better off not increasing your vitality and blood at all. Otherwise, you won't go far in the vitality and blood stage."

"Ah? Then what should I do? When I measured my vitality and blood half a month ago, it was 147.55 cards. My strength had already fallen below three times my vitality and blood when it reached 120 cards."

Yang Xixi could not help asking.

"I suggest that you stop focusing on increasing your vitality and blood for now. Slow down, cultivate martial arts techniques, and temper your vitality and blood.

"Find a body-tempering method that suits you. Temper your vitality and blood for twelve hours every day for half a month.

"Or cultivate a martial arts technique to the point of consummate mastery. Then your vitality and blood can be refined again, and you can raise its value afterward. Once vitality and blood reaches a certain level, maintaining its refinement is far more important than merely raising its value."

"So that's how it is. But why didn't my instructor mention this?" Yang Xixi asked in confusion.

"Because your instructor likely muddled through that stage himself. He might not understand it either," Chen Lie said.

"Then should I just keep tempering my vitality and blood like this?" Yang Xixi asked.

"That depends on you. The vitality and blood stage is when you build your martial arts foundation. If you want your foundation to be more solid than others', then you need to put in more effort during this stage."

"Oh." Yang Xixi nodded.

Before long, the two medicinal beast meat meals were brought to the table.

Yang Shen gave one medicinal beast meat meal each to Chen Lie and Yang Xixi.

However, Yang Xixi pushed her meal away. "Didn't Senior say that I shouldn't keep letting my vitality and blood rise like this? Then I don't want it."

"How can you not want it? Each serving costs over a hundred thousand star credits!" Yang Shen said helplessly.

Chen Lie said, "It's already been prepared. It would be a waste not to eat it.

"Besides, tempering your vitality and blood isn't something that has to be done immediately. It should continue throughout the entire vitality and blood stage."

"Then... all right."

Yang Xixi nodded, pulled the medicinal beast meat meal in front of herself, and began eating.

Chen Lie looked at the supplement before him and began eating as well.

The moment the supplement entered his mouth, Chen Lie felt a gentle yet endless stream of nourishment spread from his stomach. He sped up his eating.

Very quickly, he finished an entire medicinal beast meat meal.

After the meal, Yang Shen warmly invited Chen Lie, "Little Brother Chen, how about coming back to my shop to sit for a while?"

Chen Lie shook his head. "I won't go. You should head back and watch the shop."

"All right, then. I'll have Xixi see you off." Yang Shen looked at Yang Xixi. "Xixi, help me see Little Brother Chen off."

"Okay!"

Yang Xixi nodded at once. After stuffing a bite of food into her mouth, she immediately stood up and waited for Chen Lie.

Chen Lie rose as well and left the restaurant with Yang Xixi accompanying him.

Outside the restaurant, Yang Xixi walked beside Chen Lie and could not help asking, "Senior, you're a Mind Reader, so your vitality and blood must be very high, right?

"I heard my instructor say that even an unranked Mind Reader has value and potential comparable to a member of the East River Province Youth Genius Group?

"And if a Mind Reader learns a martial arts technique, they can do so more than ten times faster than ordinary people."

"My vitality and blood is lower than yours," Chen Lie said.

"How is that possible?"

Yang Xixi was full of disbelief.

"Mind Readers possess Mind Sense, and their comprehension and insight far exceed those of ordinary people. It is true that they learn martial arts techniques more than ten times faster.

"As for the East River Province Youth Genius Group, its threshold seems to be one thousand cards of vitality and blood. If you want to go far on the martial arts path, you cannot take that as your goal.

"You should continuously temper your vitality and blood. First, cultivate exceptionally refined vitality and blood, then raise its value until it becomes vast and surging, rolling like a liquid slurry."

"Vitality and blood like slurry? Isn't vitality and blood in a mist state? How could it possibly roll and surge like slurry?" Yang Xixi asked in confusion.

"Although vitality and blood is in a mist state, it can also turn liquid. Maintain the refinement of your vitality and blood while continuously raising its value. Quantitative change produces qualitative change. Eventually, you can temper it until it rolls like slurry."

As they spoke, Chen Lie and Yang Xixi left the martial artist marketplace and arrived at a bus stop beside it.