Chapter 13

A few minutes later…

After haggling for ages and finally cutting the price by eight yuan, Lin Mo plopped down on a small table behind the barbecue stall, reached over, snatched a skewer of grilled ham from Chu Wange’s plate, and shoved it into his mouth with a vicious bite.

Seeing Chu Wange studying him curiously across the table, Lin Mo snapped:

“What are you staring at? I paid for this—can’t I eat a few skewers?”

Chu Wange shook her head, pushed the barbecue tray toward the center of the table, and said:

“Eat.”

Lin Mo didn’t bother with politeness—he was already hungry and had been simmering with rage at the barbecue vendor, so his stomach now had every right to complain.

He grabbed several skewers of beef and stuffed them into his mouth in huge bites.

Chu Wange, by contrast, ate with far more elegance—though her speed was just as fast.

Her hand moved so swiftly to grab skewers that Lin Mo didn’t even catch a blur before she had meat already in her mouth.

The two of them buried their heads in their food, ignoring each other completely, leaving the middle-aged vendor behind them shaking his head:

“Young people—when you’re given a chance, you still can’t make use of it!”

He raised an eyebrow, glancing at Chu Wange’s face—so stunning even while freeloadin’—and muttered inwardly:

“If I were twenty years younger, what would you even have to do with it? Too bad—such a beautiful girl’s gonna get screwed by a pig.”

Thinking of this, he rubbed his lower back:

“Wonder if that tigress at home’s finished her mahjong? Maybe I’ll go home a little later tonight…”

The barbecue, costing barely a hundred yuan, didn’t amount to much, and Lin Mo and Chu Wange devoured it with astonishing speed—within minutes, the table was cleared.

“They charge me a hundred yuan for this little bit? Prices in the city are insane!”

Lin Mo patted his quarter-full stomach and muttered under his breath.

The high cost of living in the provincial capital was why he never carried cash—he only got a meager monthly allowance.

Luckily, today’s hundred yuan was found money; otherwise, he’d be heartbroken.

“Oh, it’s almost two.”

Lin Mo checked the time, immediately jumped up from the table, and sprinted toward the residential compound without even saying goodbye.

Your grandpa is your grandpa—he said two a.m., and he won’t wait a single minute past it.

Lin Mo had never returned to the compound after two a.m., but he’d heard of a couple who came back from late-night snacks and accidentally exceeded the grandpa’s “operating hours”—they were forced to stand outside in the cold all night and only got inside the next morning.

Thinking of that, he picked up his pace even more.

Chu Wange calmly wiped her mouth, her sharp, commanding eyes fixed on the spot where Lin Mo vanished from view.

Then she turned her gaze to the bamboo basket beside the vendor’s hand, her expression thoughtful…

…

…

The next evening, nine p.m., Ordinary Cultivation Room, Nanshan No. 4 High School.

“What? The maximum is only 39%?”

Lin Mo stared at the message [Cannot Invest Merit Points Right Now], falling into long, silent disbelief.

Good news: In less than two days, spending a total of 1,700 merit points, his Gold Spirit Root’s purity rose from 22% to 39%.

Bad news: It can’t go beyond 39%.

For a moment, he didn’t know what expression to wear, staring at the interface in thought.

Actually, it was still worth it—1,700 merit points boosted his cultivation speed by 3.4%.

If all his other spirit roots could also reach 39% purity, his overall cultivation speed would nearly double!

Naturally, the experience gained from investing merit points would also be nearly halved compared to before.

That’s what they mean by achieving twice the result with half the effort.

Today, while meditating in the spiritual energy cultivation room, Lin Mo had clearly felt his internal cultivation technique flowing much faster than usual.

“Just when I started feeling like a genius, I’m already capped?”

He muttered to himself, though his mood wasn’t as bad as he’d expected.

Even if all five spirit roots could reach 100% purity, they’d still be five-element spirit roots.

Forget competing with single-element geniuses—didn’t even double- or triple-element cultivators overshadow him?

But as long as merit points boosted experience, those gaps didn’t matter…

Lin Mo quickly accepted this reality, and secretly thought:

“I wonder if Chu Wange has a single or double element?”

He glanced at the panel—only 10 merit points remained after boosting his Gold Spirit Root—and his numb fingers suddenly stiffened.

He curled them slightly, then straightened them—

[Merit +1]

Not enough. Not nearly enough. I need more merit points!

Lin Mo resolved again: he’d delay sleep by two hours tonight.

Decided—I’m going to outwork Ye Chen, outwork Chu Wange, outwork every genius in the cultivation world!

He thought to himself with full confidence.

…

Evening, near the pavilion in Shahe Park.

“Hey!”

“Ha!”

“Hok!”

“…”

Powerful, resonant exertion sounds, paired with the steady footsteps of elderly men and women, echoed constantly along the riverbank.

Lin Mo followed the majority, patiently practicing the Kuixingzhuang over and over.

An elderly man resting nearby, stretching as he spoke, offered helpful advice:

“Standing Zhuang requires upright posture, relaxed body, empty stance, circular intent, harmonious qi… Young man, don’t tense up so much—don’t move your body randomly, especially your little finger—why are you twitching? Are you having a seizure?”

Lin Mo repeated the Zhuang movements again and again; the enthusiastic old man gave the same advice again and again, endlessly.

It made him want to yell: “You don’t know shit—our school teachers don’t teach it like this!”

But then he glanced at the old man’s muscular, toned frame and his perfectly rounded aura—he figured the guy could knock out two of him with one punch.

So he chose to keep his mouth shut.

Fortunately, the old man didn’t keep nagging—he was dragged away by the old woman who’d finished stretching, and Lin Mo finally got his ears back.

He sighed in relief, and lost all desire to continue practicing the Zhuang .

He’d planned to train until nearly two a.m., but barely started before he felt too tired to move.

Lin Mo rubbed his temples—his head hurt!

Two straight nights of only four hours of sleep were too much for this young, sleep-hungry body.

“Maybe I should go to bed early tonight, and wake up earlier tomorrow…”

He’d just formed this thought when a notification suddenly chimed in his ear:

[Merit accumulated: 1,000 points. Qi Destiny value condensed: 1]

[Qi Destiny value: 2]

“Sleep? Screw that—let’s grind!”

Lin Mo’s headache instantly eased—he no longer felt sore in his waist or legs, and immediately resumed his Zhuang stance, repeating the movements again and again.

“Hey! Ha! Hok!”

His powerful shouts blended perfectly with the sounds of the elderly men and women around him.

His posture, too, improved— Zhuang practice didn’t require experience points, yet his technique grew noticeably smoother.

He kept going from around eleven p.m. until nearly one a.m., when the alarm rang.

Only when he was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through again, did he finally stop.

[Performed Zhuang 21 times. Proficiency +0.21]

The system notification floated across his interface.

Lin Mo grimaced and ignored it outright.

Practicing Zhuang was to fight sleep and strengthen his body—not to gain proficiency. Why the hell would he care about that?

He stretched his aching arms, extended his long legs forward to stretch—when suddenly, a flash of crimson darted across his vision, followed by a faint “ Ca ” sound.

He instinctively looked down—and there, right beneath his feet, lay two fresh red hundred-yuan bills.

“Whoa—money just… appeared?”

His gaze froze.