Chapter 12: Tenfold Hard Training

In the training ground, although Gu Shuqi had left, the impact he caused would likely linger for a long time.

Under the sunlight, the disciples who should have begun morning practice now engaged in their own meditations.

“I am the reincarnation of the Great Expansion Divine Lord, now known as Zhao Guicai; the current ruler of Dayan is my great-great-great-grandson.”

“Though my body has weakened, I still possess peerless heavenly talent; if I train as hard as before, all my power will return—I will feminize all people under heaven and take them into my harem!”

Before Fang Can’s indifferent gaze, a man imagined himself as the reincarnation of the Great Expansion Divine Lord, punching the air while muttering under his breath.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze shifting to another direction.

There, a seventeen-year-old boy also immersed himself in the identity of the founding emperor of Dayan, though his method differed from the previous one.

The boy was enthusiastically doing push-ups, muttering as he worked: “Great Chu Overlord! Great Chu Overlord! Great Chu Overlord!”

In the corner, a boy with an oddly abstract face knelt on one knee, whispering to an empty space:

“Xiao Fang, I’ve become a Tangzhu; the Sect Master has agreed to our marriage—please accept me… Wonderful, I knew we had feelings for each other…”

In the corner, the disciple who had been beaten back by Bai Feisi rubbed his cheek and said: “Bai Feisi is the strongest man in the world to be slapped by a weakling; I am the weakest man in the world to slap a strong one—heehee, I even got an extra slap!”

…

At this moment, the entire training ground was a chaos of delusions, with over a thousand disciples assuming all manner of identities.

These identities included reincarnated masters, reborn sages, peerless geniuses, emperors of nations, youths whose proposals were accepted, slaves whipped by queens—truly a grand exhibition of performance art.

Of course, not everyone in the crowd was practicing the role-playing method.

Besides Fang Can, a group of disciples silently trained their martial arts.

Compared to the others, they had begun attempting this years ago, having long since integrated spiritual victory into their martial path.

After all, the spiritual victory method was merely a technique, difficult to keep secret.

Not all disciples came from poor families; if a household practiced martial arts, they had likely heard of similar methods.

Naturally, they would not hide these from their children; thus, these well-off disciples had already gained several years of spiritual advantage over the ordinary ones.

Unaware of this, Fang Can quietly distanced himself from the mad scene and continued practicing the Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Caverns method with strict precision.

In the distance, Yang Lie and Gu Shuqi watched the scene below and nodded in satisfaction:

“Good. These disciples are of high caliber—perhaps within twenty years, one of them will emerge as a peerless talent.”

“Manager Gu, while the spiritual victory method yields strong early results, isn’t it too extreme?” Yang Lie said respectfully.

He was, of course, familiar with this method—but he had chosen not to teach it to the disciples for his own reasons.

Based on years of observation as a trainer, role-playing greatly accelerated martial progress in the early stages, but nearly all practitioners became stuck at the final leap of the Transcending Flesh stage.

In recent years, Tiger Fiend Sect had sought to align with orthodox sects and transition its operations.

Thus, several years ago, he had stopped teaching this method to disciples, abandoning other heretical techniques as well—yet now Gu Shuqi had revived it.

“Worry about the later stages after we get past the early ones.”

Gu Shuqi’s smile turned cold: “Lately, the Transformation Sect next door has clashed with us frequently—these disciples may soon be deployed for garrison duty. Isn’t it better to improve them now?”

“Manager Gu is right,” Yang Lie bowed respectfully.

‘And… I’ve been rained on—why should these bastards get to hold umbrellas?’ Gu Shuqi harbored a deep resentment.

When he was young and foolish, he too had been tricked by a senior from Huishan into practicing role-playing, leaving his spirit perpetually unbalanced and stuck at his current stage for years—this was, in a way, a full circle.

‘Oh, by the way.’ Gu Shuqi turned his head toward Yang Lie, his eyes narrowing slightly: ‘I recall that fellow was brought in by this old man to give a lecture—now he’s pretending to be virtuous in front of me.’

Thinking of this, he smirked slightly: “Yang Jiaotou.”

Yang Lie felt a chill run down his spine and replied humbly: “Manager Gu, please instruct.”

“Tiger Fiend Sect is in dire need of talent right now—the Sect Master has ordered that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. In that case, restore the old meal rations in the canteen.”

As he spoke, Gu Shuqi seemed lost in memory: “I haven’t tasted Divine Revelation Soup in years—how nostalgic that flavor feels.”

When Gu Shuqi finished, Yang Lie’s back was drenched in sweat, yet he gritted his teeth and said: “I humbly obey your orders.”

…

‘I’m hungry again.’

At noon, Fang Can spat out the arsenic he had been holding in his mouth.

As the genius state faded, he felt his hunger violently gnawing at his body.

The higher the cultivation efficiency, the more energy consumed—and the faster the hunger returned.

On his interface, everything confirmed his efforts during this period.

Name: Fang Can

Body: 1.3

Spirit: 1.3

Qi: 1.2

Description:

You completed one full cycle of the Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Caverns method. Experience +78. Technique advanced to Level 2. Transformation speed increased by 10%.

Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Caverns Level 2: 64/2000

Flesh Transformation: 0.0953%

…

‘Being in genius mode is great—my comprehension is phenomenal; my technique advances sixty to seventy times faster than ordinary people,’ Fang Can grinned, clutching his dizzy, starving head.

In just one hour, his Body and Spirit each rose by 0.1, and his Qi jumped by 0.2.

The only downside was his transformation speed—only slightly faster than ordinary people, by about tenfold.

According to information from other disciples, flesh transformation required elevating the mortal body, internalizing one’s will—it was purely a matter of slow, grinding effort.

Most cultivators advanced their transformation far faster than their technique levels, never facing his particular problem.

‘At this transformation rate, it will take me ten years to reach 100% transformation.’

Thinking of this, sorrow welled up in Fang Can as he walked toward the canteen:

‘Even if I train for one hour daily in genius mode, I can only pull ahead of ordinary mortals by tenfold? There must be another way to accelerate this!’

With this thought, Fang Can arrived at the canteen.

Just as he was about to order pork stir-fried with flat beans and rice, as he had yesterday, the woman serving food smiled warmly and volunteered:

“Young man, would you like some Divine Revelation Soup?”

(End of Chapter)