Wind Whisperer

Sparring with Zhou Jielin had benefited Zhang Ping greatly.

By the end of class, Zhang Ping found Wang Jieming bruised and battered.

It was obvious that the adventurer sparring with Wang Jieming had quite a bad temper.

But that was perfectly normal.

People paid hefty tuition to learn so they would have a better chance of surviving when they eventually left Mingzhu City to adventure.

Who wouldn't want to spar with a genius and improve together?

Anyone would be annoyed to end up with a partner like Wang Jieming.

Zhang Ping got along well with Zhou Jielin because Zhang Ping's Ape King Form was more advanced than Zhou Jielin's, giving Zhou Jielin plenty to learn from.

That was why Zhou Jielin had been willing to teach Zhang Ping some basic knowledge that all veteran adventurers knew.

What everyone hated most was meeting a partner who could not help them improve and might even turn them into a sparring partner instead.

"Are you all right?" Zhang Ping asked Wang Jieming.

Wang Jieming shook his head slightly, then forced a smile. "I'm fine. I just didn't learn much. I don't know whether I can master it in five days."

He had thought there would be another teaching session today.

But Bai De had no interest in explaining it again from beginning to end. He only stepped forward to correct some apprentices' mistakes while they sparred.

Most importantly, Bai De did not teach Wang Jieming again.

It was like some teachers from Zhang Ping's previous life, who only paid attention to good students and turned a blind eye and deaf ear to struggling ones, completely neglecting them.

If the next few days went on like this, Wang Jieming would absolutely never learn the Ape King Form.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Ping asked, "Are you free at noon?"

"Noon? Yes, I am." Wang Jieming froze briefly before answering.

Zhang Ping invited him, "Then come find me. You know Iron Soul, right? You can come to Iron Soul, and I'll teach you the Ape King Form then. But whether you can get started will depend on yourself."

"Iron Soul? I haven't heard of it, but I can go find it then," Wang Jieming immediately said.

Zhang Ping nodded. "All right. Come find me tomorrow."

Iron Soul and Wang Jieming's residence were only separated by one street, so it would not be hard to find.

After agreeing on it, the two headed back together.

The next day.

At noon, while Zhang Ping and Liu Tiefeng were eating, Wang Jieming came looking for them.

After Liu Tiefeng returned to the second floor for his afternoon nap, Zhang Ping began teaching Wang Jieming. Wang Jieming's learning ability was extremely poor, so Zhang Ping simply broke the Ape King Form's movements into several smaller actions and taught him one movement at a time. When he found that even this did not work, he had Wang Jieming do nothing but practice a single movement for an entire hour.

He discovered that this method actually worked. At the very least, after an hour, Wang Jieming had really learned one of the movements.

"Not bad. On to the next movement. Watch me do it once, then follow along," Zhang Ping said with a smile when he saw that Wang Jieming had learned the first movement.

The lesson continued until nightfall. Wang Jieming went home to eat first, and they agreed to go to the martial arts hall together that evening.

Most martial arts halls began class at eight and ended at eleven. Although some began at six in the evening and ended at ten, Beast King Fist Hall followed the former schedule.

Although the former had one less hour of teaching, it actually charged more.

Zhang Ping had never experienced classes at other martial arts halls, so he did not know much about their teaching standards. But Bai De's teaching was at least decent. Aside from the oddity that was Wang Jieming, most apprentices could quickly get started.

Over the next two days, basically nothing major happened.

The Cleanup Team became more cautious in its operations against the Heavenly Foxes. At least, Zhang Ping only noticed one fewer Heavenly Fox, and he could not even be sure whether it had been killed or had gone elsewhere on its own.

He did not ask Liu Sishan either. He merely continued identifying newly discovered Heavenly Foxes for her as usual, then appraised the Heavenly Foxes he had previously identified once more, only to find nothing.

That left him uncertain whether it had been a Heavenly Fox trap or merely an accident.

The weekend arrived.

Mingzhu City had no official weekends, but people generally had days off on weekends.

Beast King Fist Hall was also closed that day, so the students did not need to attend class.

That morning, Zhang Ping did not knead dough. Instead, he tried forging a Pearl Saber again. This time, he successfully forged a satisfactory Pearl Saber—or at least, he felt that he had succeeded.

Holding the Pearl Saber, he walked over to Liu Tiefeng, who was smoking, and asked, "Grandpa Liu, does this count as a success?"

"Huh? What did you say? Where's Dashan?" Liu Tiefeng looked up and asked with a confused expression.

Zhang Ping froze, then looked toward the shop entrance. After quite a while, Qiu Qiang finally appeared, carrying several large bags.

"Brother Zhang Ping, I'm back," Qiu Qiang said with a grin.

He set the packages down on the counter, plopped down beside Liu Tiefeng, and said to himself, "Damn it, I nearly got killed this time. I don't know what the hell happened, but there were far fewer wild beasts and mutated beasts outside. We had no choice but to go deeper into the northern mountains, and we ended up running into a wolf pack. Every last one of them was a mutated beast, too."

"Uncle Qiang, are you all right?" Zhang Ping looked at Qiu Qiang but did not spot any obvious injuries.

Qiu Qiang gritted his teeth and rolled up his sleeve, revealing several savage wounds on his arm. He sneered. "That wolf pack wouldn't stop chasing us, so I had no choice but to let the others leave while I stayed behind to cover their retreat.

When you run into wolves, especially mutated beasts, never let them surround you. Otherwise, you're finished.

I fought as I retreated, then ran into a pack of bastard savages in the woods. The moment we met, I took a wind blade and nearly got cut in half at the waist. Luckily, I had a disposable burrowing shovel. I couldn't afford to be stingy with it then, so I had to use it.

As it happened, the wolf pack could not find its prey, so it attacked those savages instead. I took advantage of the chaos, and not only did I get away safely in the end, I even got my hands on something good."

As he spoke, he took out a green gemstone.

"Isn't that a Wind Gem?"

Zhang Ping looked at the gemstone in surprise.

A Wind Gem was not actually a gemstone.

It was an extremely rare and uncommon biological crystal.

Almost all mutated beasts containing wind-element energy could potentially form Wind Gems inside their bodies. Even some Awakened with wind-based talents could develop similar gems inside their bodies.

Wind Gems could store wind-element energy. Through mental guidance, the wind-element energy within a Wind Gem could be released to form attacks such as wind blades and storms.

In fact, other elements had corresponding elemental gems as well.

For example, Liu Sishan likely had a Water Gem inside her body, because her advanced talent was Energy Compression, and talents of that type were the most likely to form elemental gems.

However, having an elemental gem inside one's body did not mean it could be easily removed.

When ordinary mutated beasts or Awakened died, their elemental gems usually dissipated along with their elements. Only a tiny fraction remained behind.

Because elemental gems were equivalent to giving someone an additional ability, they had always been priceless in Mingzhu City. They were ultra-rare equipment that money could not buy.

"I pried this off one of those savages' weapons. You could say I got my revenge." Qiu Qiang looked pleased with himself.

As he spoke, he handed the Wind Gem to Zhang Ping and laughed generously. "Here, get a feel for it. You don't see genuine ones often. The city is full of fakes, though. If you've never seen the real thing, don't buy one carelessly. It's very easy to get scammed."

Zhang Ping carefully accepted the Wind Gem.

Part of his knowledge about elemental gems came from school, while the rest came from Liu Tiefeng's teachings.

But even Iron Soul did not have a Wind Gem, only a few fakes they had mistakenly bought.

The instant the gemstone entered his hand.

Zhang Ping felt a faint chill in his palm.

When he sensed it carefully, he discovered that a weak breeze was coming from the Wind Gem.

The breeze was incredibly faint, like pressing his hand against the surface of water and vaguely sensing tiny, cool ripples.

"Wind-element energy is invisible inside living bodies, but once released outside, it turns into wind. Only within an elemental gem can you see what it looks like in energy form. Look closely at the center of the gem. See that mass of milky-white energy? That's wind-element energy." Qiu Qiang leaned closer and explained earnestly.

Zhang Ping nodded. He had indeed seen that milky-white energy.

"This thing depends first on touch and second on eyesight. Once you've seen the real thing, you can tell a fake. Remember how this feels, so you don't get fooled later," Qiu Qiang said with a smile.

Zhang Ping answered, then closed his eyes and carefully felt the Wind Gem's texture, hardness, and temperature.

Suddenly, he heard a soft pop.

Then came a burst of static, like the sound old televisions made when they lost their signal and turned to snow.

A moment later, he heard the voices of many men and women.

His eyes widened slightly, and he immediately used Appraisal on himself.

[Appraisal successful]

[Summoned Beast: Zhang Ping]

[Master: Zhang Ping]

[Species: Human]

[Potential: ??]

[Lifespan: 89]

[Rank: Beginner Awakened]

[Level: 3]

[Talents]

[Contract Gem: Can consume stamina + mental power to condense a Contract Gem. Once the target willingly accepts the Contract Gem, their life, soul, and consciousness will all be controlled by the summoner. At the same time, they will gain the summoner's potential and luck blessing. After the first dose, every subsequent dose will slightly increase their potential, with a 1% chance of awakening a new talent. Note: This talent ability was obtained by summoner Zhang Ping through overdrawing his intelligence, potential, and luck. Though powerful, it possesses some enormous flaw. Excessive ambition does not seem to be a good thing.]

[Absolute Command: You possess absolute dominion over summoned beasts. Your commands can never be disobeyed by summoned beasts.]

[Absolute Obedience: You absolutely obey the summoner's commands. You will faithfully carry out the summoner's orders.]

[Strategic Appraisal: Can appraise a target, with a very small chance of obtaining information about the target. The smaller the gap in strength between both sides, the greater the chance of successfully obtaining information. Once the first appraisal succeeds, the chance of succeeding in subsequent appraisals of the same target will rise significantly. Note: A talent ability born from the thirst for knowledge of summoned beast Zhang Ping and summoner Zhang Ping.]

[Nightwalker: Gains night vision. Presence is greatly reduced at night, movement speed is greatly increased, body weight decreases, and the user becomes completely invisible while in shadows.]

[Fire Eater: Can restore stamina by consuming flames, and convert excess flames into fire-element energy stored within the body. Once the energy is released, the user temporarily gains a flame-wreathed effect until their fire-element energy reserves are depleted.

This ability will gradually increase the user's resistance to high temperatures.

Note: Potential is only potential. Only when it is turned into strength does it become true power.]

[Wind Whisperer: The wind will bring you all kinds of information, whether you want to know it or not.

Note: There are no walls that keep out the wind, nor secrets the wind does not know.]

...

Sure enough, it was a new talent.

Zhang Ping thought to himself, even feeling like complaining. Was the chance of awakening a new talent really only one percent?

But Wind Whisperer was a passive skill. He could not control whether it activated or deactivated, which meant he could only passively receive the information it brought.