The Wager

After dinner, only Shen Heng, Han Ling, Wei Leyang, and Wu Cheng remained in the vast building.

Calamity Beasts mainly moved at night because more people were active during the day. Although those people might not pose much of a threat to them, their instincts as living creatures still made them favor the night.

For this reason, the Supervision Bureau also assigned its main force to the night shift. Usually, one person was on duty during the day, while everyone else worked at night, with the shifts rotating once a week.

Of course, whenever an incident involving a Calamity Beast occurred, even personnel who were off duty would be called to the scene.

Since Shen Heng had yet to reach the First Tier and was still a student under his current identity, he had not been included in the duty roster.

But once he graduated and reached the First Tier, there would be no escaping those shifts.

Wu Cheng looked at Shen Heng and invited him, "Shen Heng, do you know how to play mahjong? Join us later!"

"No, I'll cultivate a little more, then head home!" Shen Heng shook his head.

"Cultivate? Haven't you heard that saying?" Wu Cheng asked.

"What saying?"

"If you spend all your time eating, drinking, and having fun when you're young, then when you're old..." Wu Cheng paused before continuing, "When you're old, you'll find you have nothing left to regret!"

"..." Shen Heng nodded. "I've heard that one, but..."

"You've heard it, but you haven't understood it!"

Wu Cheng cut Shen Heng off, looking exasperated at iron that refused to become steel.

"It's like how people struggle to recognize youth while they're still young."

"Trust me, you're in the prime of your youth right now. What you should be doing is experiencing youth, not this bullshit cultivation!"

"Enough, Wu Cheng. Stop spouting your twisted nonsense!" Han Ling said.

"How is this twisted nonsense? This is valuable experience from your senior!" Wu Cheng thumped his chest.

Han Ling ignored Wu Cheng and turned to Shen Heng.

"It's good to take cultivation seriously. We can watch while we're at it and see how your cultivation went today!"

They headed toward the training rooms on the ground floor.

To keep people from disturbing others while training, the Supervision Bureau had plenty of training rooms. With their current staffing, there would still be rooms left over even if everyone took one.

The four soon reached the training room where Shen Heng had cultivated during the day.

Shen Heng settled into a sitting position with practiced ease, his eyes half-closed, and began his breathing practice.

Han Ling, Wu Cheng, and Wei Leyang watched quietly from a short distance away.

"Hehe... let's make a bet. Guess how long he can keep up his breathing practice?" Wu Cheng looked at the other two with a grin.

"Ten minutes!" Wei Leyang said.

"I'll take fifteen!" Wu Cheng seized the opening, then turned to Han Ling. "Han Ling, what about you?"

"You..." Han Ling looked at Wu Cheng as though he had given her a toothache. She had wanted to say fifteen minutes.

After all, ordinary beginners generally managed anywhere from a few minutes to ten minutes of breathing practice. Anyone who could last over ten minutes was already considered excellent. She just hadn't expected Wu Cheng to be so shameless. Didn't the person running the bet normally let everyone else place their bets first?

But now that things had come to this, there was nothing she could do. Thinking back to her conversation with Shen Heng yesterday, she hesitated before saying with little confidence:

"Then I'll take twenty minutes!"

"Hehe, good. Whoever's closest to his actual time wins. Late-night snacks tonight are the stakes?" Wu Cheng rubbed his hands together expectantly.

He hadn't placed his bet at random. He had specifically asked the captain about Shen Heng's cultivation today. Remembering the odd expression on the captain's face, he reckoned it was probably the feeling of casually picking something up by the roadside, only to discover a treasure.

I've got this one in the bag! Wu Cheng thought.

Han Ling and Wei Leyang both nodded without objection.

The three waited in silence.

Ten minutes later.

Wei Leyang was expressionless, Wu Cheng looked mildly expectant, and Han Ling pursed her lips.

Twenty minutes later.

Wei Leyang was expressionless, Wu Cheng looked miserable, and the corners of Han Ling's mouth lifted slightly.

Half an hour later.

The smile had vanished from Han Ling's face too. The three exchanged somewhat astonished glances, then continued waiting.

An hour later.

Following Wei Leyang's lead, all three sat down and tried practicing their breathing too.

An hour and a half later.

Unable to settle their minds, they struggled through a brief bout of breathing practice before standing up again. From time to time, they turned to look at Shen Heng, but he continued his breathing practice without even the slightest sign of moving.

Two hours later.

Looking baffled, Wu Cheng walked over to Shen Heng. After confirming that Shen Heng was indeed still practicing his breathing, he walked away again, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Two and a half hours later.

The three walked down the corridor, their faces full of confusion.

"How can he keep up his breathing practice for so long right from the start? Doesn't he ever zone out?" Han Ling turned to the two beside her in bewilderment.

"Maybe he used to be a chuuni, wanted to cultivate, and taught himself to meditate?" Wei Leyang guessed.

"You think everyone's like you?" Han Ling glared at Wei Leyang. "Besides, so what if he learned Zen meditation? Didn't Daoist Master Li at headquarters only manage less than two hours at first before the Origin Power interfered and made him zone out?"

Wu Cheng shook his head. He didn't understand either, yet he also understood now.

So the captain's expression back then hadn't merely been that of someone who had found a treasure!

"Forget it, let's stop worrying about that. Come on, the three of us can go play cards!" Han Ling shook her head and put it out of her mind.

Wu Cheng nodded and walked forward beside Han Ling.

But after only a few steps, the two stopped and looked back in confusion at Wei Leyang, who hadn't followed.

"Wei Leyang, what are you doing?" Han Ling asked.

"You two go play. I'm going to cultivate too!" Wei Leyang raised his head and looked straight at them.

"Huh? Cultivate?" Han Ling and Wu Cheng stared at Wei Leyang, bewildered.

"That's right. The newcomer's working so hard. How could I slack off as his senior?" Wei Leyang nodded earnestly.

"Enough talk. I'm off to cultivate!" With that, Wei Leyang turned and ran toward his own training room.

Han Ling stood where she was, watching Wei Leyang's retreating figure with a sense of helplessness, then turned to Wu Cheng.

"Is he... having another episode?"

"Looks like it!" Wu Cheng nodded gravely, then turned to Han Ling and asked, "Then what do we do?"

"What do we do? Cultivate, what else? Are the two of us supposed to play Train?"

Inside the training room.

Shen Heng practiced the Five Animal Fist, move by move.

His face was slightly flushed from concentration and exertion. Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead and slowly trickled down his cheeks.

Tiger Form, Crane Form, Ape Form...

As Shen Heng practiced his moves, Origin Power flowed slowly through his body.

Everywhere it passed, a rich warmth spread, accompanied by slight pain and a tingling itch. This came from his muscle fibers constantly tearing and regrowing as the Origin Power tempered them.

After a long while, as he threw his final punch, Shen Heng slowly drew back his fists and feet.

This time, he did not move again. He simply stood quietly where he was, standing there and feeling, feeling that familiar yet unfamiliar tranquility...

A moment later, the unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar clamor swept over him again.

Shen Heng sighed. "Just as I thought. The ability stops when my Origin Power runs out, and I can enjoy a brief moment of peace then. But soon, as my body naturally absorbs Origin Power, the ability quickly returns."