You Said You Swallowed a Jade Marrow Crystal Whole?

Hearing what her mother said, Guo Rui fell silent.

After a long while, she slowly said, "But Yang Sheng said he doesn't like me."

Aunt Chen said, "Whether he likes you or not isn't important. You need to take the initiative yourself."

Guo Rui said, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Aunt Chen suddenly flew into a rage and roared at Guo Rui, "Pester him, seduce him, get into his bed, have a child to tie him down. Do I have to teach you all that too?"

Guo Rui turned her face away, tears already soaking her cheeks.

"So that means you gave birth to me back then just to tie Father down?"

Aunt Chen's expression returned to calm as she said coldly, "As someone from the Lower Registry, if you want to rise above others, you have to stop at nothing. There is no other choice."

Only after Aunt Chen had left did Guo Rui slowly wipe away her tears and stare blankly out the window.

She murmured, "I understand."

Early the next morning, Yang Sheng, unaware that Guo Rui had set her sights on him, got up at five as usual and headed to school.

He spent an hour in the training room refining his Eight Extremes Fist techniques.

Although his Eight Extremes Fist had already reached perfection, there were still minor flaws that needed further polishing.

However, after practicing Eight Extremes Fist for an hour, Yang Sheng's cultivation progress had increased by only two points.

"Looks like Eight Extremes Fist has truly reached its limit. Next, I either need to cultivate a stronger martial art, or rely on great medicine to increase my cultivation speed."

"Our star is still true to himself, always insisting on being the first to arrive every day."

At some point, Jiang Tian had appeared at the entrance to the training room.

He looked at Yang Sheng with a gratified expression.

Seeing Jiang Tian, Yang Sheng hurriedly stopped and respectfully clasped his hands. "Hello, Teacher Jiang."

Jiang Tian nodded at Yang Sheng. "In just one week, you brought your Eight Extremes Fist techniques to perfection. To be honest, even I was no better back then."

Yang Sheng was rather surprised to hear that. After all, he had relied on the Martial God Soul to push his Eight Extremes Fist techniques to the extreme in such a short time.

But Jiang Tian did not have an overpowered advantage like the Martial God Soul, yet he had still reached the same level as Yang Sheng. That alone was enough to prove how skilled Jiang Tian was.

Seeing the surprise in Yang Sheng's eyes, Jiang Tian coughed awkwardly.

"Ahem, well, a true man doesn't boast about past glory. I came to find you because your application for the Special Merit Scholarship has been approved by the school. They've prepared the money and great medicine and brought them over today. Come with me to Principal Tang's office."

Hearing the news, Yang Sheng was delighted.

Later, Yang Sheng learned from Liu Chang that Jiang Tian had originally intended to keep him out of the school test in order to protect him.

However, Jiang Tian had desperately wanted to secure the Special Merit Scholarship for Yang Sheng, so he had no choice but to agree to let Yang Sheng take the test.

Only by passing the test could the Special Merit Scholarship be approved.

It was an open scheme. Even if everyone saw through the calculations of certain people behind it,

they still had to accept it.

In those people's expectations, arranging for Li Ya to fight Yang Sheng would ensure Yang Sheng's defeat. That would not only crush the Lower Registry students' desire to continue cultivating and allow Class-Divided Cultivation to be smoothly implemented throughout the school,

but also damage Jiang Tian's reputation.

Some members of the Board of Trustees had long been deeply dissatisfied with the enormous authority held by elite teachers like Jiang Tian, who could freely allocate the school's resources.

They wanted to use this opportunity to attack Jiang Tian. Ideally, they would promote controllable teachers like Zhao Huan and once again make them the spiritual leaders of Bay City Martial Arts High School's faculty.

When Jiang Tian agreed to let Yang Sheng participate in the test, some of them had already thought victory was assured.

Yet they had never expected Yang Sheng to utterly crush Li Ya, who had reached the peak of Lesser Completion of Bright Force.

Not only had this failed to suppress Jiang Tian, it had instead allowed him to achieve some of his goals once more.

At the same time, it further increased Jiang Tian's prestige within the school.

However, that did not mean Jiang Tian could remain at the height of his power forever. So long as the people opposing him had not been completely removed, some of the conflicts lurking deep within the school would continue to exist.

When they arrived at Principal Tang's office, Principal Tang was already waiting for Jiang Tian with a smile.

Jiang Tian glanced at him. "You're being more sensible today."

As he spoke, he sat directly in Principal Tang's seat.

Principal Tang, meanwhile, sat somewhat stiffly yet naturally in one of the guest chairs.

"After yesterday's test ended, Principal Zhou attached great importance to Yang Sheng's matter. He specially approved Teacher Jiang's previous application for the Special Merit Scholarship, and it has now been delivered."

Jiang Tian said, "That Zhou Mohai loves taking credit for ready-made work. When I spoke to him about it before, he just kept brushing me off."

Principal Tang said, "Principal Zhou is usually too busy with official matters, so he cannot attend to everything personally."

Jiang Tian said, "Enough with the useless talk. Where's the scholarship?"

Principal Tang froze for a moment, then hurriedly got to his feet. "Here, here."

He opened the office safe.

"The Special Merit Scholarship of Bay City Martial Arts High School has only appeared four times in its history. This is now the fifth. Aside from the cash reward, the scholarship now also comes with great medicine of equal value."

As he spoke, Principal Tang took a suitcase from the safe.

When he opened it, one side was neatly stacked with one hundred thousand yuan in cash, while the other held two small boxes.

Jiang Tian picked up one of the small boxes and examined it closely.

"What is this?"

Principal Tang carefully picked up the other identical box.

"These two great medicines are Second-Tier Great Medicines that match the value of the scholarship."

Yang Sheng had already learned about Second-Tier Great Medicines yesterday.

Blood Essence Grass, Copperbone Flower, and the like were all First-Tier Great Medicines.

They were the most common sort, while Jade Marrow Crystal had only just crossed the threshold into Second-Tier Great Medicine.

In other words, even the basic varieties of Second-Tier Great Medicine started at ten thousand yuan.

They were extremely precious.

Hearing Principal Tang's introduction, Jiang Tian gently opened the lid of the box.

Inside was a pale purple stone.

The instant Jiang Tian saw the little stone, his eyes lit up.

"Damn, Old Zhou was pretty generous this time."

Principal Tang smiled along with him.

He explained to Yang Sheng, "This great medicine is called a Thunderclap Stone. As the name suggests, this kind of stone generally appears only in highland regions. It contains lingering thunder energy. Grind it into powder, then take it orally."

"The electrical current within the Thunderclap Stone continuously tempers the nerve synapses, greatly increasing a martial artist's neural reaction speed. This one is worth around fifty thousand yuan on the market."

Yesterday, when Yang Sheng had browsed great medicines in the martial artist pharmacy, he had seen an illustrated description of Thunderclap Stone.

Because this kind of stone was extremely difficult to obtain, martial artist pharmacies in Bay City almost never sold it.

The shop assistant had described it as one of the finest miracle medicines among Second-Tier Great Medicines.

Just one Jade Marrow Crystal had increased his progress by fifty points. Thunderclap Stone was worth five times as much as Jade Marrow Crystal, and Yang Sheng did not even dare imagine how powerful its effects would be after consumption.

Seeing Yang Sheng's astonished expression, Principal Tang continued, "What distinguishes Second-Tier Great Medicines from First-Tier Great Medicines is that all Second-Tier Great Medicines must be consumed over multiple doses. Otherwise, they can be life-threatening. This Thunderclap Stone is enough for you to consume five times."

Yang Sheng frowned, thinking that nobody had told him this before.

"Second-Tier Great Medicines need to be consumed in multiple doses? But last night, I swallowed a Jade Marrow Crystal whole."

Jiang Tian and Principal Tang suddenly froze when they heard Yang Sheng say that.

The two stared at Yang Sheng in unison as if they had seen a ghost.

"You said you swallowed a Jade Marrow Crystal whole?!"