398 Laying Foundation (1/2)

Seasons came and went by; it was now the Year 1003.

The chilly winter was not fully over yet. In the middle of the night, even the most hardworking student would not be able to withstand the coldness and would have climbed into their warm beds.

Fang Yuan had long convinced Professor He Tianming to allow him to move out of the dormitory.

Currently, he was at a random spot in a small forest as he prepared to check his progress this past year.

For Fang Yuan to change his normal body to one with the properties of spiritual droplets, in the words of Wuxia novels, it would be like a normal person giving birth to a ”spiritual root” from nothing. It was extremely difficult.

Furthermore, the laws of this realm were too harsh. Although the concentration of spiritual droplets was recovering, it was still as rare as a spring in the desert. Even Fang Yuan had to spend a year plus to complete his foundation-laying process.

That was even after the increased concentration of spiritual droplets in the past one year. Else, Fang Yuan estimated it would have taken him at least three years instead to completely form his first grade of Elemental Spiritual Energy Cultivation Spell.

”Breathe...”

Accompanied by Fang Yuan's deep breaths, even the moonlight in the skies blurred slightly for a while as they were warped and sucked into Fang Yuan's dantian.

A clear stream moved around Fang Yuan's body and immediately, on his stats window, the 99.99% behind his Elemental Spiritual Energy Cultivation Spell increased by one point and was fully completed.

”Rumble!”

Instantaneously, Fang Yuan felt his body vibrate as a mysterious change occurred inside his body and a circulation was formed at once.

His blood flow became faster, his face turned red and large amounts of sweat were squeezed out from his pores along with a smelly impurity.

”I guess this... is the same as the ancient method of marrow cleansing as recorded in the Classic of Changes?”

Fang Yuan took out his shirt quickly and jumped into the small river without any fear of cold. He then washed away the filth on his body.

Moments later, he climbed up and wiped dry his body before looking at his stats:

”Name: Fang Yuan

Essence: 1.0

Spirit: 1.0

Magic: 1.0

Profession: ???

Cultivation: ???

Technique: [Elemental Spiritual Energy Cultivation Spell (Grade 1 (Completed))]

Skill: [Medicine (Level 3)], [Botany (Level 5)], [Fiery Golden Eyes (Level 1)]”

”1st Grade of Elemental Spiritual Energy Cultivation Spell completed — body transformation completed, transformed into Spiritual Droplets Affined Body! Energy sense increased!”

”Spiritual Droplets Affined Body, this actually means I'm an evolver now...”

Fang Yuan closed his eyes slightly. He no longer needed guiding needles to guide him, with just a thought, he could sense the spiritual droplets in the air. Unfortunately, there were way too little spiritual droplets, they were as rare as an oasis in the desert.

”At least I have managed to cultivate some spiritual energy which I could use. My medicine skills have recovered by more than half!”

Fang Yuan tilted his head and thought. He then suddenly waved his hand.

”Swoosh!”

Silver light shined, a row of silver needles flew out and struck the surface of the pine tree neatly and impressively.

Within a few yards, this hidden weapon technique that was impossible to guard against was even already better than firearms. Other skilled martial artists in this realm would all die to this technique.

At this stage, Fang Yuan had some ability to defend himself.

Fang Yuan could not help but gave a wry smile at such.

The reason why Fang Yuan initially moved out of the dormitory was because he felt he was tailed and spied on a few times. Thus, he could only bear patiently for a few months before the monitoring became less tight. But till now, the monitoring was not completely gone.

To put it nicely, it was a form of caring and prevention. After all, Fang Yuan was just a 16 years old teenager that had to be slightly looked after.

This was a necessary price he had to pay after being allowed to move out of the dormitory.

”Nevertheless... it's about time!”

Fang Yuan tried to figure out his body's transformation, ”I have already accumulated sufficient knowledge! If I do or say something unexpected, although it would be eye-catching, at least it would not shock the world nor arouse suspicions...”

”If I don't attract attention, how would I be favoured by the superiors? How would I be able to enter the core research laboratory?”

In this past one year, Fang Yuan managed to be on a few projects through Professor Tian's connections and earned some extra income through being their assistants. He even had the chance to use the laboratory equipment occasionally. However, he was still thousands of miles away from his aims.

Last time, Fang Yuan had to be more reserved and restrained, but now, since the first grade of his Elemental Spiritual Energy Cultivation Spell was completed, he had fewer scruples.

...

Sambhogakaya Monastery.

After a night of martial arts training, Fang Yuan mixed into the group of people who were doing morning exercises. He then bought a cup of soy milk and a few donkey sandwiches before going to his own shop.

”Morning, Little Boss!”

Fang Yuan's antique stall, named ”Heart Questioning House”, had already opened for business. One of the shop assistants was a 20 something years old student. When she saw Fang Yuan, she immediately greeted him brightly.

”Didn't I say before, call me Fang Yuan or boss...”

Fang Yuan rolled his eyes and went into the shop and was very satisfied as he saw how clean and spotless the shop was.

Sun Jian recommended Fang Yuan two stall assistants, Ding Qiuyu who worked the morning shift and Zhao Lihong who worked the afternoon shift. Both of them were students from the nearby universities who wanted to earn some extra income. As they did shift work, they only worked for less than half a day which was not very tiring.

Ding Qiuyu was a northerner and had the bright and forthright attitude of a northern girl. As Fang Yuan was younger than her, she liked to tease him and Fang Yuan was used to it after a while.

”Why are you free to come to the shop today, Little Boss?”

Ding Qiuyu held the broom and asked while smiling.

She was curious about this young boss who was not only specially invited to enter Xijing University, he also opened a shop in the capital. Furthermore, she heard he used to be an orphan.