Wang Yan's Little Scheme

Wang Yan hurried off as soon as he finished eating, while Chen Ping remained busy.

He had started soaking the ingredients now not because he had already mastered the entire process of making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, but simply to save time.

After all, learning the entire process in one crash course was difficult. But practicing how to prepare the ingredients-removing hair where necessary and soaking whatever needed soaking-was relatively simple.

It was much like the Forward-and-Reverse Turning Staff Chen Ping had demonstrated in front of Bei Bei. Learning an entire set of Thrusting Staff techniques was difficult, but surely he could learn a move or two to use first?

So, as soon as he finished preparing the ingredients, Chen Ping returned to his room and began his daily exercise and meditation like an ascetic monk.

[New skill comprehended: Left Circle, Right Square]

[Proficiency: beginner]

[Skill description: Having mastered Movement Meditation, you can now easily maintain a meditative state while doing other things in most situations.]

[Increasing this skill's proficiency will only allow you to perform two different tasks more smoothly; it will not allow you to perform more tasks. For such needs, please acquire "Secret technique-Heart Separation Control."]

"Huh?"

Listening to the string of notification sounds, Chen Ping lowered the desk he had been carrying on his back and put it back in place, feeling rather puzzled.

He had actually comprehended a new skill on his own?

Left Circle, Right Square presumably referred to drawing a circle with the left hand and a square with the right. It was a fitting name for the skill he had comprehended.

Moreover, Chen Ping keenly noticed something: this Left Circle, Right Square he had comprehended was classified as a skill.

Meanwhile, the Heart Separation Control mentioned afterward by the system was classified as a secret technique.

Then, beyond skills and secret techniques, were there even higher classifications, such as supreme arts?

Silently filing that away, Chen Ping hoisted the solid wooden desk in front of him, which weighed around twenty or thirty jin, onto his back again and began doing squats at an unhurried pace.

After another two hours of training, he still had to continue learning how to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Earlier, he had crammed for several hours and restarted the simulation training ground dozens of times before finally figuring out how to prepare every ingredient.

For the remaining time, he would have to maintain his meditation while learning the next cooking steps in the simulation training ground.

The Golden Crow rose three times, and the Jade Rabbit sank three times.

For those three days, Chen Ping shut himself inside his room without taking a single step outside.

During the day, he ate whatever he could to fill his stomach, surviving mainly on the meals Wang Yan brought back in the evenings.

If Wang Yan had still been somewhat unconvinced by Chen Ping's words the first night, when he returned home again, he could already smell all sorts of marvelous aromas drifting through the room.

On the kitchen stove, which had gone unused for years, earthenware pots of various sizes simmered and bubbled over the flames. The soup, as white as flawless jade, made his mouth water at the mere sight of it.

At that point, Wang Yan could still hold himself back. He merely swallowed instinctively, nodded, and offered a few words of praise.

But when he returned the next day with a food carrier to feed Chen Ping, the previously white broth had undergone a transformation, becoming clear and translucent.

The aromas of the various ingredients seemed to have permeated the entire home by then, leaving Wang Yan distracted throughout his meal as he kept glancing at the pots simmering in the kitchen.

The faint, savory fragrance in the room seemed to become a little hand formed from mist, floating before Wang Yan and constantly beckoning him to come over and feast to his heart's content.

Fortunately, Wang Yan had to work overtime at Shrek these days and could simply sleep on a makeshift bed on the floor rather than return to the faculty dormitory.

Otherwise, even Wang Yan himself did not know whether he could withstand the temptation without ruining Chen Ping's ingredients in the middle of the night.

On the third day, for the first time, Wang Yan brought a packed lunch back to the faculty dormitory during the busiest part of the afternoon.

Seeing that the clear broth had transformed yet again into a golden soup, Wang Yan suddenly realized that this was the first time he had ever been so excited about a meal.

"When will it be ready?"

Wang Yan rubbed his stomach, having just finished eating. Though he was already full, the fragrance filling the room made him feel as if he could eat another meal.

A measure of delight appeared on Chen Ping's face as well. Making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was truly an ordeal.

Fortunately, Chen Ping had already made it through the hardest stage, "one broth, three transformations." All that remained were some simple finishing touches.

"It'll be ready just in time when you get back from work."

Chen Ping gave him a firm, decisive answer.

"Wang Yan, thank you for all your hard work lately. You've been working overtime for days on end."

At the entrance to Shrek Academy, Wang Yan was walking behind an old man who was greasy all over, with disheveled hair and clothes torn in several places.

The old man's appearance was truly dreadful. What should originally have been a white robe had turned grayish-brown and was damaged in multiple places.

He held a wine gourd in his left hand and a chicken drumstick in his right, eating with great relish.

"Hehe, everyone's been working hard lately, not just me. We've finished sorting out the graduating students' files, so there shouldn't be any particularly heavy workloads before the new students arrive."

Wang Yan smiled softly, looking relaxed and at ease, with a barely perceptible trace of distraction.

"Mm. These days, Mu En rests whenever he can. As for me, I really don't want to bother with all this paperwork, so I can only put you to work a little more."

The old man devoured the drumstick in a few bites and admitted without the slightest blush or flutter of his heart that he was an inveterate slacker.

"Now that there aren't any major problems with the academy's affairs, I can head to the Far North again with peace of mind."

"Xiaotao's Evil Fire gets worse every year. Unless we find some ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow to help that girl Luo Chen evolve into a Soul Master with the ultimate ice attribute, Xiaotao probably won't be able to keep cultivating at all in another year or two."

"Ah, that girl has had such a bitter lot. Such wonderful talent, yet she ended up with an evil fire phoenix martial soul. Ah..."

At that, the old man shook his head regretfully and took a few swigs of wine.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Yan said, "Xuan Zi, do you remember what I've been telling you these past few days about my distant nephew?"

The old man addressed as Xuan Zi nodded. "I remember. His martial soul actually evolved from a Willow Wood Staff into a Touch Dragon Staff. The boy himself is no ordinary youngster either. He has both the character and the ruthlessness."

Wang Yan smiled. "That's the boy. Once I have some free time, I plan to study the mystery of his Martial Soul Evolution. If I discover something, perhaps I could even help Xiaotao's martial soul evolve from an evil fire phoenix into her ancestor's ten-headed phoenix martial soul."

Xuan Zi chuckled at that. "A ten-headed phoenix martial soul? Even a nine-headed phoenix martial soul is more than we could dare hope for."

"But you're right. That is a direction worth studying. Go ahead and look into it. If you can evolve Xiaotao's evil fire phoenix martial soul into a fire phoenix martial soul, that alone would be an astonishing surprise for us."

Wang Yan nodded in agreement. "Then, Xuan Zi, I won't escort you any farther. Shall I head back?"

Seeing how Wang Yan looked as though he was merely waiting for him to turn into a streak of light and fly toward the Far North, Xuan Zi gave a cold chuckle and poked Wang Yan's head with a greasy finger.

"You slippery brat. Do you think this old man's nose doesn't work?"

"You've got something wonderful simmering at home. It's smelled different every day."

"My guess is that tonight's the night you lift the lid. Am I right?"