"Wait."

"What… What do you want? You want to fight?"

"No, you look like you need a rest," Yun Hao let out a small chuckle, "You're sponsored by the Huang family, right?"

"What's it to you?"

"What does that mean, anyway? Have they adopted you or something?"

"I guess, what's it to you?"

"Nothing, just curious," Yun Hao shrugged his shoulders, "Do you know anyone named Huang Yi?"

Yun Hao asked as he had been curious ever since he heard that Sun Fang was sponsored by the Huang family, which happens to be the clan of the young lady she met last week in the mixer.

"Huang Yi… the granddaughter of the current clan master? I met her once, why do you ask?" Sun Fang squinted his eyes as he looked at Yun Hao straight in the eye, "Wait… don't tell me you have a little crush on her!?"

Sun Fang suddenly burst out in laughter, garnering the attention of the floor receptionist. But obviously, she didn't want to be involved with whatever it was anymore. The two were already cultivators, and thus in her mind, they were already of a higher status than her. She had been working for a while here, and while she also wanted to be a Cultivator, with her salary, it would take at least 15 years before she could become one.

But there's also the fact that she wasn't really trained to become one, so she actually might just die like what happened to one of the applicants today. And so, with that thought, the receptionist could only sigh as she grabbed her phone and started fiddling with it.

"No," Yun Hao bluntly said, "I was just curious, I've met her before. Small world."

"Hm," Sun Fang furrowed his eyebrows. But after a few seconds, he turned away and decided to proceed to the stairs. But before he could even take a single step, a bell rang in his ear as the elevator door opened.

"You're not coming in?" Yun Hao said as he put the elevator on hold when he got in.

"..." Sun Fang was tempted to go inside. But after thinking about it for a second, he shook his head, "Pft, who would want to be stuck with someone like you in the elevator."

"...Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" Yun Hao let go of the button as he let out a scoff.

"I'd rather take the stairs and get some exercise," Sun Fang said as he turned around, "I don't take shortcuts!"

"...Don't hit a girl on your way down then."

"What did--"

Before Sun Fang could retaliate, the elevator doors closed on him, "Motherfucker! Wait 'til we meet again, I will show you the difference between us!"

Sun Fang stomped his way to the fire exit, only to find out that it's locked.

"Oh, the maintenance is currently working on the pipes there," the receptionist, who noticed that Sun Fang was shaking the door, advised her through her speaker, "You should take the elevator."

"..."

"God damn it."

***

The sound of metal hitting each other clanged in the air as Yun Hao carefully locked the door to his rustic and dilapidated house made of scraps. He still had a barrel-full of sitting on the corner of his house, but for some reason, when Yun Hao was looking at it, all he was feeling was exhaustion.

For 2 weeks, he did nothing but carry a ton of coins in and out of the neighboring cities. He already knew almost all of the merchants and vendors by name, but now it was coming to an end. He already achieved his goal of becoming a cultivator, and the coins that once made a pool inside his house were almost depleted. If he uses the same pace he was used to already, then it probably wouldn't even take 3 days before the remaining coins are completely gone.

And even with him paying the price of $300,000, he would still have a total of about $100,000 in his name.

He… could be considered a young master now, right? A true young master, since he was also a cultivator now.

"Pft," Yun Hao could not help but snort as he let himself fall onto his bed made of cardboard. He couldn't really imagine himself living a life of luxury, perhaps it'll change in the future. But for now, he only had one goal in mind-- to be the Champion of the Cultivator world…

...and perhaps a new apartment.

The latter goal was something he could do once all the coins are gone. The former, however-- he had no idea where to even start. He knew that there were competitions and such for Cultivators, but how does one even get invited? He had been searching googoru for a while now, and every answer was vague.

"Pft," once again, Yun Hao chuckled from the thoughts he was having. As Hannah said, they were just baby cultivators. It was probably too early for Yun Hao to be thinking of competing with others when he doesn't even know the basics of being a cultivator yet. Heck, he doesn't even know the different levels of Cultivators, all he knows is that since he just unlocked his meridian, that puts him at the earliest stages of… the Mortal Realm.

Yun Hao then sat up from his bed and looked at his hand. Liu Hannah said that changes will happen in their bodies in the span of 24 hours… maybe he should start moving his body around?

Wait… Yun Hao's eyes then suddenly widened as he remembered something crucial. He quickly grabbed something from his pocket-- a red pouch.

It was a pouch given to him by Liu Hannah, containing the promised payment for doing the vlog with her. Yun Hao's stuttered breaths echoed through his small house as he opened the pouch.

"I… it's so beautiful," he whispered as the Beast Core reflected in his eyes. He then very carefully placed the Beast Core on his palm, trying his best to still his trembling hand.

Yun Hao then took a very long and very deep breath before closing his eyes.

"Please work," he once again whispered, "D… duplica--"

But before he could finish his words, he felt his eye flicker until finally, the only thing that he could see was darkness.

"...Oh," he muttered before he felt his body falling from the bed and slightly rolling to the ground.

"...Fuck," was the last word that came out of his mouth before he completely lost consciousness.

***

"No, not this one."

"No, I looked like shit in this one."

"Ack, damn it. I should've taken more photos."

Somewhere in a different city, Liu Hannah was currently inside her house, lying on her sofa as she fiddled with her phone. She had just finished editing the video for today and was already uploading it to the famous streaming platform, WeLine.

And now, she was currently picking on what thumbnail to use. She had been scanning for almost an hour, trying to pick from the almost hundreds of photos she took during the test. Yun Hao was the main focus of her vlog today, even putting "The Strongest Normie Ever" as the title of the video.

"Ah, not this one!" Hannah groaned in frustration as she could not find a good image. And soon, after a few more minutes, she reached the part of her gallery where she and Yun Hao were taking photos together.

She stared at the first photo for a while… before deleting it. But all it did was pan to the next photo of them together, which she once again proceeded to delete. She doesn't know why she was doing it, she had been taking photos with other interesting applicants even before, but she never deleted them and even included them in the vlogs.

But for some reason, she was feeling slightly weird now.

"Delete. Delete. Delete," Hannah muttered. But then, as she reached the end of the photos, her fingers suddenly stopped moving as her mutters were replaced by a stutter.

"..." Her eyes could not help but slightly squint as she looked at the photo in her phone. It was the photo that Yun Hao took, and they were awfully close to each other. Hannah then unconsciously tilted her head as she focused on Yun Hao, who was slightly smiling.

Unbeknownst to her, a small smile was also creeping up on her face as her finger double-tapped the screen, zooming at Yun Hao. She then panned the photo a bit, showing her and Yun Hao's faces close together. She stared at it for a full minute before letting out a long and deep sigh.

"I… should probably start thinking of dating soon," she muttered to herself as she realized she was having... thoughts about a guy that was almost 10 years younger than her,

"Gah!" She then screamed in frustration as she stood up and lightly threw her phone on the sofa, "Why'd you have to be so god-damn handsome as well!?"

Hannah contemplated for a few more minutes until her video finally finished uploading. In the end, she just chose the photo of Yun Hao holding his scar during the 2nd test as a thumbnail.

And that was her nightly routine and she was ready to call it a day as she made her way to her bed.

As for the photo of them together, surprisingly, she found herself looking at it. "Stop this, Hannah. Get a grip," she said as she was ready to close her phone as well as her eyes. But before she could do so, a notification entered her ears.

"Oh, someone already commented on the video?"

She was about to click the notification, but another one came before her finger could press it.

And then another.

And then another.

"W… what the fuck is going on?"