If cultivation meant digging a hole in a vat full of mud and filling it with water,
then switching from a low-grade cultivation method to a high-grade one meant widening that existing hole from top to bottom, allowing it to hold more water!
As Xu Yuan endured the excruciating pain of cultivating the Heaven-Shaking Art and felt that "hole" growing larger and larger, his scalp gradually began to prickle.
The hole the Savage Bull Skin-Toughening Method dug at Skin Tempering First Tier might only hold two cups of water, but the one the Heaven-Shaking Art dug would probably need twenty or thirty!
If he relied solely on his first-tier Divine Talent to cultivate slowly, Xu Yuan felt that just advancing from Skin Tempering First Tier to Skin Tempering Second Tier would probably take him over a decade!
As for counting on the Beast Ranking to provide another treasure that could improve his Divine Talent?
Xu Yuan had already given up on that.
Why?
Because he had vaguely realized that the Beast Ranking existed to cultivate an unparalleled evil demon, and judging by the current situation, the path had probably already been laid out.
First it gave him a brain, then a cultivation method, and that method allowed him to cultivate by killing people. In other words, whoever the Beast Ranking chose did not need particularly good Divine Talent. They just needed to go around killing people.
So the Beast Ranking most likely would not provide Xu Yuan with anything that improved his Divine Talent.
Perhaps it had deliberately sought out someone with poor talent when choosing its host.
Someone with poor talent would be more easily blinded by greed, more likely to slaughter indiscriminately for cultivation, just as it hoped!
Fortunately, Xu Yuan had never pinned all his hopes of solving his lousy talent problem on the Beast Ranking!
He had long since thought up another solution.
Whaling!
Buying huge quantities of body-tempering liquid to cultivate!
The most important ingredient in body-tempering liquid was actually Divine Substance!
As long as he was willing to spend, Divine Talent was no problem at all!
The only question was whether he had the money.
Of course, that problem had now grown bigger.
Previously, spending eight hundred thousand to a million might have gotten him to Skin Tempering Ninth Stage. Now, he probably needed at least ten million.
And that was precisely why Xu Yuan's scalp was prickling.
Over ten million would not be easy to earn!
And that was only what he needed for the Skin Grinding Realm. Once he reached Bone Forging, he would probably need a hundred million, or even several hundred million!
Not to mention Blood Replacement and Organ Training after that!
Whose scalp wouldn't prickle at that?
As for giving up this cultivation method?
Absolutely not!
The divine ability Demon Descent was too important. No matter what, Xu Yuan would never give it up.
"I need to make money..."
A long while later, Xu Yuan stopped cultivating, his face full of melancholy.
Mentioning leather armor to Sister Wang that afternoon had originally been a spur-of-the-moment idea. Now, however, he could hardly wait.
He picked up his phone to check the time. Seeing that it was already past seven in the evening, Xu Yuan got out of bed and left his bedroom.
The aroma of food greeted him in the brightly lit living room.
Zhang Yaying had prepared another table full of dishes, looking even more lavish than last night's spread.
It seemed to be a celebration of Xu Yuan passing the assessment.
At the other end of the living room, Xu Kexin was doing her homework at her little table, though her attention was clearly no longer on it.
Her round eyes were fixed on the dining table, and she did not even notice the drool dripping from the corner of her mouth onto her workbook.
"Finished cultivating, Yuanzi? Perfect timing. Let's eat!"
Just then, Zhang Yaying came out of the kitchen carrying two dishes and spoke with a beaming smile when she saw Xu Yuan.
Time to eat?!
Xu Kexin's little body jolted, and her eyes instantly lit up like two little flashlights!
With the speed of a thunderbolt that left no time to cover one's ears, she put away her textbooks, rushed to the dining table, and picked up her chopsticks, ready to dig in.
But the moment she reached out, her mother slapped her hand.
"Wash your hands first!"
"Okay!"
The little girl was not the type to shed little pearls over a single smack. She promptly dashed toward the bathroom!
Seeing that Xu Yuan had beaten her inside, she immediately let out a fierce dragon's roar!
"Xu Yuan, hurry up! I'm starving to death!"
"If you're starving to death, how can you yell that loudly? I think you're dying of cravings instead."
Grinning, Xu Yuan leisurely closed the bathroom door.
When he came back out, Xu Kexin was already sitting smugly at the dining table. "You can wash your hands in the kitchen too. I finished ages ago!"
She looked as though she had won a battle.
Xu Yuan chuckled and sat down at the table. Picking up his chopsticks, he looked at Zhang Yaying and asked, "Mom, has Auntie Wang gotten back to you? How big a discount can she give me?"
"I was just about to tell you."
Zhang Yaying took off her apron and sat down. "Sister Wang said that if you order twenty or more, she can give you ten percent off. Thirty or more gets you fifteen percent off, and fifty or more gets you the biggest discount: twenty-five percent off!"
"But Yuanzi, Weird Beast leather armor is very expensive. Will more than twenty students in your class be willing to buy it?"
Zhang Yaying felt that her son's business venture probably would not work out.
"Well, that's hard to say."
Xu Yuan answered casually and began calculating in his head.
First-tier leather armor sold for around forty thousand on the market. If he could get twenty-five percent off and sell it to his classmates at fifteen percent off, he could pocket four thousand per piece.
Fifty pieces meant two hundred thousand!
There was something to this!
As for not having enough classmates?
That was no problem. Weren't there still No. 1 Middle School, No. 2 Middle School, No. 4 Middle School, and No. 5 Middle School?
Surely No. 3 Middle School wasn't the only one assigning Weird Beast hunting missions, while the other four high schools had none?
The martial arts students at No. 3 Middle School were scared. Could the students at the other schools really be unafraid?
Across all five high schools, there might even be more than fifty willing buyers!
Besides, he had already made a name for himself as a martial arts prodigy. That should help attract customers too.
For example, anyone who bought leather armor from him could get priority when requesting his guidance on martial techniques.
That was right. Xu Yuan planned to keep offering martial technique instruction, though he certainly could not be as outrageous as Master Bao.
He would make his guidance a little more mysterious, spreading something he could teach in one session across several.
For example, going from minor accomplishment to major accomplishment originally required only one session of instruction. From now on, he would split it into five or six!
He could earn more money without worrying about standing out too much.
As for his identity as Master Bao, if someone discovered it, so be it. But until then, Xu Yuan had no intention of exposing himself and having a crowd of people seek him out every day.
That would be far too troublesome.
"There's no rush to make money. You've not only passed the assessment, but also mastered a Transformation Realm martial technique. You'll have plenty of chances to earn money in the future!"
Seeing Xu Yuan's chopsticks planted motionless in his bowl for so long, Zhang Yaying thought he was troubled over his leather armor business falling through and could not help comforting him.
"I looked it up online this afternoon. Once you've mastered a Transformation Realm martial technique, you can at least become a special-grade martial arts teacher, earning several million a year!"
"Several million? Xu Yuan can earn that much money in the future?!"
Xu Kexin was peeling shrimp. At those words, her little face instantly filled with shock.
Several million-just how much was that?
Her little head simply could not imagine it.
Xu Yuan grinned. "Exactly. So, Xu Kexin, why aren't you calling me Big Brother already?"
"Pfft, what's a few million? I'll definitely earn more than you!"
Xu Kexin refused to concede an inch, though her words lacked conviction.
Watching her son and daughter bicker, Zhang Yaying smiled with tender affection.
How much her son might achieve no longer mattered, because at that moment, she was already utterly content!
After dinner, Xu Yuan returned to his room.
Instead of rushing to cultivate, he took out his phone and opened Heavenly Messenger.
He planned to create just a little demand, making it easier to talk business with his classmates tomorrow.
But the moment he opened Heavenly Messenger, his phone began vibrating furiously!
[Wang Fengtang requests to add you as a friend!] [Qin Kuan requests to add you as a friend!] [Wu Qi requests to add you as a friend!]
There were over a dozen friend requests, and judging by their notes, they were all martial arts students from the other four high schools.
The corner of Xu Yuan's mouth quirked up. Wasn't this convenient?
He quickly accepted all the requests, then composed a message and sent it to all of them.
[Xu Yuan: Could you add me to your martial arts class group chats?]
Everyone who received the message was bewildered.
What was going on? Why was Xu Yuan asking to join other people's class groups right off the bat? What was he up to?
Still, there were no secrets in the class groups. At least half of the dozen or so students chose to do Xu Yuan a favor and immediately added him.
No. 5 Middle School: [Yang Yue: Holy crap, Xu Yuan? Is that THE Xu Yuan?!] No. 4 Middle School: [Zhang Yongjing: Holy shit! A big shot's joined the group! Offering the big shot a cigarette!] No. 2 Middle School: [Qin Kuan: Xu Yuan's joined. Everyone, come welcome him.] No. 1 Middle School: [Wang Fengtang: @Xu Yuan, welcome.]
"So enthusiastic. Too bad I'm about to get kicked out."
Xu Yuan smacked his lips and opened a search app.
After a flurry of activity, he selected over a dozen news articles and sent them to all five class groups, including No. 3 Middle School's.
[Tiger-type mutant Weird Beast infiltrates Yu City, leaving 13 dead and 79 injured!] [Three wolf-type mutant Weird Beasts attack Ming City. Bone Forging expert killed in bloody battle!] [Half a residential complex falls, three security guards die in battle. Hell on earth!]
Over a dozen links, all news reports about Weird Beasts attacking cities!
As these reports flooded their screens, students in every group began typing masses of question marks.
And, unsurprisingly, Xu Yuan was kicked out of every group chat!
Even No. 3 Middle School kicked him out!
Lin Yuan even "chased him out," brimming with murderous intent.
[Lin Yuan: Xu Yuan, what the hell are you doing???]
"Making everyone more afraid of Weird Beasts, of course. That way I can sell leather armor!"
Muttering to himself, Xu Yuan quickly typed a reply:
[Xu Yuan: Don't we have a Weird Beast hunting mission coming up? I'm reminding everyone how dangerous Weird Beasts are, so nobody takes it lightly!]
Inside a villa, Lin Yuan's face darkened as he read Xu Yuan's message.
The fucking students had already been scared shitless when they heard the news. Did they need his reminder?
[Lin Yuan: No reminder needed. Everyone knows Weird Beasts are dangerous. Stop posting this stuff!] [Xu Yuan: I'll stop, I'll stop.]
Meanwhile, students from the other high schools also began messaging him.
[Wang Fengtang: ???] [Qin Kuan: Fuck! Did you join just to mess with everyone's heads?] [Wu Qi: What's wrong with you???]
"Forgive my sins, forgive my sins..."
Mumbling away, Xu Yuan copied his explanation to Lin Yuan and sent it to all of them.
Whether they believed him did not matter. He had achieved his goal anyway.
When he pitched the leather armor tomorrow, his chances of success should be much higher!
It was just a little dangerous. He had better bring honest old Zhang along, or he might get beaten up...