Chapter 375

378. Chapter 378: Meeting Fan Zhizhou Again

After settling the exotic beasts, Li Yi returned to the city, intending to go home and have a good rest.

However, just as he reached the intersection near the Ping'an Building, a man in rags, smelling foul and with disheveled hair, suddenly rushed out from a small alley, then knelt down with a thud, trying to grab Li Yi's hand.

Li Yi reacted quickly; thinking it was a scammer, he dodged almost instinctively.

"A beggar?"

What year is it? There are still beggars in Tianchang City; he hadn't seen one in many years.

But he didn't have any money on him either.

Li Yi subconsciously touched his pocket, then thought that there was a golden coffin in his storage artifact—should he break off a piece?

Just as he was thinking this, the beggar spoke: "No, not a beggar. Brother Li, it's me, Fan Zhizhou. Don't you recognize me?"

"Fan Zhizhou?"

Li Yi was startled, then hurriedly helped him up: "Brother Fan? It's been a while; how did you end up like this?"

Once these words were spoken, Fan Zhizhou, who had been incredibly strong before, suddenly burst into tears, as if he had suffered a great grievance, and began to cry loudly like a child.

"Brother Fan, what's wrong with you? Are you alright? I see your limbs are intact, you're free of illness and disaster, and there's nothing wrong with you... it's just that your blood and Qi are a bit weak."

Li Yi looked him over and discovered that during this period, Fan Zhizhou's strength hadn't improved; instead, his blood and Qi had declined significantly, and even his martial arts realm had regressed.

"Brother Li, I've suffered so much," Fan Zhizhou wailed, drawing side-glances from passersby.

"It's okay, it's okay. There's no obstacle in the world that can't be overcome; aren't you still alive and well?" Li Yi comforted him while feeling very puzzled in his heart.

It hadn't been long since they last met; how did Fan Zhizhou end up like this?

He remembered that when he parted ways with Fan Zhizhou, he had given him several million, plus the great medicines he brought back from the Four Seas and Bazhou, which should have been enough for him to live comfortably in Tianchang City. At the very least, he shouldn't have ended up as the only beggar in Tianchang City.

Fan Zhizhou wanted to speak, but his stomach growled loudly. Then, with trembling hands, he grabbed Li Yi's arm and said: "Brother Li, do... do you have anything to eat? I haven't eaten for several days; I'm almost starving to death."

"Hmm?" Li Yi's silver eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

So your weak blood and Qi are from starvation.

That shouldn't be possible.

How long has it been, and you've already spent millions and eaten all the great medicines in your backpack?

Li Yi didn't think too much and immediately took a bottle of extraordinary nutrient solution from his storage artifact and handed it to Fan Zhizhou.

Fan Zhizhou wasn't without any changes; at least he was already very familiar with things in modern society. After taking the extraordinary nutrient solution, he immediately opened it and poured it into his mouth, looking like a starving ghost reincarnated. In less than a few seconds, the bottle was empty.

As the extraordinary nutrient solution took effect, Fan Zhizhou's feeling of hunger began to disappear rapidly.

He put down the bottle, looked up at the sky, tears swirling in his eyes, and finally let out a long sigh: "Finally alive again. After this full meal, I can hold out for another ten days."

"..."

Seeing him like this, Li Yi didn't know what to say for a moment.

But it was clear that Fan Zhizhou had been living quite miserably during this recent period.

"Brother Fan, let's go back to my place first, take a shower, and rest. We can talk about whatever it is later."

Fan Zhizhou nodded with tears in his eyes: "Thank you, Brother Li. If not for Brother Li's help, I, Fan, would surely have starved to death on the street today."

Li Yi brought Fan Zhizhou back to the Peace Financial Building, let him take a shower, and called Zheng Lan to prepare a set of clean clothes for Fan Zhizhou to change into.

"Li Yi, who is he? Why does he look like a beggar? Is he a cultivator who returned from an adventure in the danger zone?"

Zheng Lan asked curiously while handing over the clothes. In her perception, only people who went into the danger zone for adventures would be in such a disheveled state.

"No, he's a friend I brought back from another world," Li Yi said.

Zheng Lan immediately became interested: "That person is from another world? Which world did you bring him from?"

She also knew about cross-dimensional matters and was very curious about people from other worlds.

"I'll tell you later; don't ask too much for now," Li Yi said.

"Then I won't ask now, but you must tell me the stories of the other world later. I'll go make you a cup of tea first." Zheng Lan didn't ask further and left immediately.

After a while.

Fan Zhizhou walked out of the bathroom wearing clean clothes. He regained some of the bearing of a noble family's young master, but for some reason, his eyes were always filled with tears, looking as if he had suffered every grievance, and his brow was full of decadence. This state was similar to Li Yi's when he had just returned from World No. 36. "Brother Fan, sit. Tell me, what exactly happened to you recently, and how did you end up as a beggar in Tianchang City?" Li Yi sat on the sofa and gestured for him to sit.

Fan Zhizhou sat down. To better integrate into this world, he had cut his hair, and his long hair had become shoulder-length short hair. Then, being asked by Li Yi, he lost his focus, as if recalling unbearable past events.

Li Yi didn't rush him, just waited quietly. After a long time, until Zheng Lan brought over a cup of brewed black tea, Fan Zhizhou finally came back to his senses.

Fan Zhizhou held the steaming black tea, looking at his own decadent reflection in the tea, and his tears fell uncontrollably again. Then he wiped his tears, drank the hot tea in one gulp, and let out a long sigh: "Brother Li, this story is a long one."

"After parting ways with Brother Li in the abandoned city area last time, I took the four million Brother Li gifted me, carrying all kinds of great medicines and precious elixirs prepared by my family, and stepped into Tianchang City full of confidence. At that time, I deeply felt the vastness of the universe and the insignificance of myself, and I decided to put down the status of a noble family disciple and start from scratch."

Li Yi nodded: "That's very good; there's no problem with that."

Fan Zhizhou continued: "I also followed your advice, Brother Li, and found a meditation room to learn the methods of cultivation and evolution. In this way, by practicing both martial arts and cultivation, I would surely achieve something in the future."

"That idea is very correct," Li Yi nodded again.

"But the nightmare started from that moment..." Fan Zhizhou's expression became painful instantly: "I found a meditation room called Tianxing Meditation Room. Although the cultures of the two worlds are different, normal communication was no problem. The owner of that meditation room asked me to pay ten thousand yuan to join the meditation room and become a member."

"At that time, I thought this price was really cheap, so I paid the money without hesitation, preparing to learn while better integrating into this world."

Li Yi said: "There's no problem with that either; your arrangements were all very reasonable."

If it were him, he would have done the same. After all, Fan Zhizhou was also a smart person; it was impossible for him to turn into a 'Dragon Overlord' immediately and run rampant in the city. Only by figuring out the rules of this world, mastering the cultivation methods of this world, and exploring and establishing a foothold slowly could one survive better.

Fan Zhizhou continued: "I thought everything would be normal, but when I went to the meditation room for class the next day, I was told that today the teacher was giving a lecture to Bai Yin members, and the ten thousand yuan I paid was only for a regular membership, so I had no qualifications to listen to the lecture at all. To listen to the lecture, I had to become a Bai Yin member, and becoming a Bai Yin member required one hundred thousand yuan."

"I thought this money wasn't expensive either, so I paid the one hundred thousand yuan and became a Bai Yin member. But the people at the meditation room told me to come tomorrow because today's class had already started, and new students would miss a lot of knowledge. If I went to listen to the class halfway through, it would affect the quality of subsequent cultivation, and the meditation room was doing it for everyone's good."

"At that time, I felt that becoming a Bai Yin member was truly worth it, and the service attitude was much better, so I went back to find a hotel to rest for a day. On the third day, I came to class. That day, the teacher did indeed explain some knowledge, from the Heaven-Tilting Event to cultivation and evolution, and then to how to meditate and absorb cosmic energy... I was very happy at that time because I felt I had mastered the cosmic energy cultivation method."

Li Yi said: "Although you spent one hundred thousand yuan, learning this stuff was worth it. Isn't that very good?"

Fan Zhizhou smiled bitterly: "But my aptitude was too poor. No matter how I meditated, I was never able to guide cosmic energy into my body and could not open the path of cultivation. At that time, some people advised me to give up and find a job to earn some money instead of cultivating, but how could I give up? So I asked the teacher if there was any way to change this situation."

"The teacher at the meditation room said that he could act as my guide, guiding cosmic energy into my body to help me open the door to cultivation, but the price was very high: ten thousand yuan per hour."

Hearing this, Li Yi also felt there was no problem.

The teacher at that meditation room saw that Fan Zhizhou couldn't get started for a long time, so acting as a guide was very normal, and the price was also the industry standard, with no intention of ripping him off. After all, the meditation room was also open for business.

"For ten full days, I spent one million, and that teacher kept helping me guide cosmic energy, but I still couldn't get started," Fan Zhizhou said, holding his head in pain.

"Uh..."

Li Yi remembered something at this moment.

It seemed that the cosmic energy in the Four Seas and Bazhou was thin, and the people there had already degenerated, were not sensitive to cosmic energy, and found it difficult to become evolutionists. This was the same as Earth at the beginning; cosmic energy had just appeared, and cultivation hadn't started yet. As time passed, under the soaking of cosmic energy, the body began to adapt to the energy, and only then was the path of cultivation opened.

When Li Yi helped his junior sister Zhao Qian open the path of cultivation, he mobilized the energy of the Knife Coin and performed the White Bone Contemplation technique, gathering a large amount of cosmic energy, and finally, in coordination with the guidance technique, poured this cosmic energy into Zhao Qian's body, forcibly breaking through that threshold to succeed.

In Tianchang City, for Fan Zhizhou to succeed, he would only have a chance to open the path of cultivation by staying in a Mystic Object Cultivation Room for a few days, or by honestly living in Tianchang City for a period of time until his body adapted to the environment here before he could cultivate.

The strength of an ordinary meditation room teacher was at most Spirit Medium or Inspiration level; wanting to help people from the Four Seas and Bazhou open the path of cultivation was simply wishful thinking.

"Later, the teacher saw that I was so persistent in cultivation and introduced me to another method, which was to buy a few bottles of the meditation room's unique 'cultivation water.' It is said that after drinking it, ordinary people can immediately open the path of cultivation, but the price is a bit high: one million per bottle," Fan Zhizhou said.

"Pfft!"

Hearing this, the black tea in Li Yi's mouth was sprayed out directly.

It was likely that the teacher at that meditation room had already seen that Fan Zhizhou was a fool with money and had started to rip off a sucker.

"I thought one million wasn't expensive either; anyway, as long as I could open the path of cultivation, it would be fine. So I bought a bottle. But after I used that cultivation water, there was still no effect, although my energy was much more abundant," Fan Zhizhou said: "That teacher said my constitution was very poor, as if I hadn't evolved at all, and one bottle probably wasn't enough; I needed two."

"However, Bai Yin members only have the qualification to buy one bottle. To buy two bottles, I needed to get a Gold membership, and becoming a Gold member required a one-time payment of five hundred thousand."

"..." Li Yi looked at Fan Zhizhou with a strange expression.

The people at that meditation room had calculated the money on Fan Zhizhou to the last cent.

He only had four million in total.

If he bought three bottles of whatever cultivation water, plus a Bai Yin membership and a Gold membership, that would be three million six hundred thousand gone. Excluding some daily food and drink, it had almost hollowed Fan Zhizhou out.

Fan Zhizhou didn't understand the cultivation of this world and was eager to open the path of cultivation. Moreover, he was a noble family disciple who didn't care much about money, so he would definitely fall into the trap.