Chapter 12: Ranking up in Leaps and Bounds

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

When An Lin regained consciousness, he was greeted by the sight of Xu Xiaolan’s flawless face.

Her face was very close, and her eyes were blinking as if she was examining something.

“Do I have something on my face?” An Lin asked feebly.

Xu Xiaolan grinned, “Yeah.”

She extended her finger and lightly brushed the tip of An Lin’s nose.

Such intimate contact made An Lin feel a little embarrassed. “Hey, it’s not good to take advantage of me when I’m feeling weak…”

Tear!

“Ow! It hurts!” An Lin cried as he grabbed his nose. Then, he saw that a small paper seal had appeared in Xu Xiaolan’s hand.

“This is a seal that stops bleeding. I pulled it off for you since it doesn’t seem like you have a nosebleed anymore.”

There was a hint of mockery in Xu Xiaolan’s eyes as she glanced at An Lin.

“To go to such lengths and work your heart out on the first day as subject representative,” she continued, “so much so that you actually passed out from a nosebleed… An Lin, you really are something.”

An Lin rubbed his nose awkwardly.

He had no way of responding to Xu Xiaolan’s comment.

“Oh, that’s right. Where’s Su Qianyun?”

“Her? She left when Pharmacist Liu said you were going to be fine.

“You should have seen her expression when she heard the pharmacist explain why you fainted. Tsk, tsk, tsk…

“After getting a rare chance to make a good impression in front of the number one goddess at our university, I’m afraid that it’s all amounted to nothing now,” Xu Xiaolan said cheerily as she gloated at An Lin.

“What’s the point of dwelling on this? It’s not as if she’s going to fancy me anyways,” An Lin sighed.

“At least you’re aware of your own limitations. Now hurry up, let’s go eat!” Xu Xiaolan exclaimed softly.

An Lin only realized now that his stomach was completely empty.

“You haven’t eaten either?” An Lin asked.

“If it wasn’t for your annoying matter!

“I was already heading off to the dining hall when I heard that you had fainted. So, I ended up rushing over here to look after you. Say, I treat you so well. How are you going to repay me?” Xu Xiaolan rolled her eyes and humphed.

“How about I pledge myself to you?” An Lin said gratefully.

“Beat it!”

…

Just like that, An Lin’s life once again returned to normal.

One after another, the days passed, and Su Qianyun would still seek his help regarding Chinese and English. However, there was a subtle feeling of distance, which was obviously a direct consequence of her bearing a grudge over the event of that day.

That said, An Lin was still the only person with whom she would engage in conversations.

After all, apart from cultivating, Su Qianyun just studied those two languages and was uninterested in everything else.

…

Before he knew it, three months had passed.

One night, a shackle somewhere in An Lin’s body was broken by a vast rush of energy, and he successfully broke through to the Fourth Stage Dao Body!

It could be said that this was the happiest night in An Lin’s life.

Through his efforts, he proved that he didn’t need to rely on some fishy system and could cultivate all on his own!

“Humph, so what if you want me to complete one hundred million to the power of one hundred million push-ups this time? If the worst comes to worst, I’ll just cultivate on my own!” An Lin said proudly.

That said, he still looked over his God of War System expectantly.

“Fifth Stage Dao Body—Condition: Absorb the vital energy of ten spirit stones.”

Spirit stone? An Lin was startled momentarily.

The university took care of shelter and food, meaning that he had absolutely no chance of coming across the ‘energy currencies’ which existed in the cultivation world.

Thus, he didn’t even have a single spirit stone on him right now.

Ten spirit stones… it probably shouldn’t be too hard to obtain. Maybe I should ask Xu Xiaolan and see if she has any?

An Lin was just about to go next door but stopped hesitantly at his front door.

Being the worst student in the class, he had inconvenienced Xu Xiaolan many times by having her give him extra lessons.

The fact that Xu Xiaolan had helped him so much already made it impossible for An Lin to now open his mouth and ask her for money.

Just as An Lin was hesitating, a figure flashed through his mind—Xuanyuan Cheng!

He had once told An Lin, “If you have any problems regarding cultivation, you can come and talk to me. Being your class captain, I will definitely try my best to help you!”

Xuanyuan Cheng’s house wasn’t far from here and it wasn’t too late either. There was probably enough time to get there.

Thinking of this, An Lin set off for Xuanyuan Cheng’s residence.

An Lin felt under a bit of pressure now, as he wasn’t sure if Xuanyuan Cheng was being serious that day.

However, for the sake of cultivation, he was willing to keep going regardless.

An Lin felt uneasy as he knocked on Xuanyuan Cheng’s door.

Xuanyuan Cheng was wearing an ancient-style golden robe as he opened the door.

Seeing that it was An Lin at the door, a warm smile appeared on his face.

“What brings Student An Lin here tonight?”

Xuanyuan Cheng’s tone and poise were knowledgeable and refined, greatly easing the tension in An Lin’s heart.

“Class captain, you said before that you would help me if I came across any problems. Is that true?” An Lin asked.

“Of course it’s true! What problems have you encountered? Come on in, we’ll discuss it inside.” Xuanyuan Cheng signaled for An Lin to enter his house.

An Lin waved his hands and was a bit apologetic. “No, it’s fine. Actually, I just wanted to borrow ten spirit stones from you. I’ll repay you once I have enough spirit stones in the future.”

“That’s all?” Xuanyuan Cheng smiled and retrieved a sack of spirit stones from his storage ring. He chucked the entire bag towards An Lin without even asking how many he needed.

“I don’t have spare change on me so here’s five hundred spirit stones. Take it all and don’t worry about repaying me.”

“This…”

An Lin carried the heavy sack of spirit stones in a daze.

Xuanyuan Cheng laughed heartily, and his eyes were full of encouragement. “As long as you have a desire to improve and cultivate earnestly, this kind of loose change doesn’t really mean all that much to me.”

An Lin was extremely moved, and his heart was filled with unspoken words. In the end, he only managed to muster out a single sentence. “Big Brother Cheng, thank you!”

An Lin returned to his room with the five hundred spirit stones.

He put the spirit stones onto a table, and they piled up into a small mountain.

Looking at the light-green gems which were crystal clear and sparkling, An Lin felt extremely excited.

He impatiently started to cultivate and absorb the vital energy from the spirit stones.

Bursts of warmth traveled throughout his body, continuously cleansing and strengthening him.

After absorbing ten spirit stones, a burst of energy smashed through some seal with a crack.

The aura around An Lin changed and he broke through to the Fifth Stage Dao Body.

After ranking up, he had no time to sigh with emotion. The first thing he did was nervously look towards the system interface.

“Sixth Stage Dao Body—Condition: Absorb the vital energy of ten plus ten spirit stones.”

What a familiar pattern…

Seeing the string of words, An Lin couldn’t help but say, “Big Brother Cheng, thank you for the spirit stones…”

After absorbing twenty spirit stones, An Lin ranked up to the Sixth Stage Dao Body.

Immediately, a new prompt appeared on the ‘Cultivation Base’ section of the system.

“Seventh Stage Dao Body—Condition: Absorb the vital energy of ten multiplied by ten spirit stones.”

…

The corner of An Lin’s lips curled up. This pattern of conditions for ranking up was extremely familiar, with the push-ups from before simply swapped out for spirit stones!

He didn’t hesitate and continued to absorb the energy of the spirit stones.

After absorbing the energy of one hundred spirit stones, his aura once again broke through some critical point and he reached the Seventh Stage Dao Body!

Feeling the vast amount of energy surging through his body, a look of satisfaction appeared on An Lin’s face.

In one night, his cultivation base had shot all the way from Third Stage Dao Body up to Seventh Stage Dao Body. This made him feel as if he was in a dream.

One had to understand that a Seventh Stage Dao Body was already considered the average standard for new students attending The United University of Cultivation.

The higher the cultivation rank, the harder it gets to level up.

For normal people in the later stages of Dao Body, each increase in rank would require numerous years, or perhaps even dozens of years, of work.

Even for the prodigies who had the ability to enter this university, one or two years of earnest cultivation would be required.

Yet, An Lin achieved all this simply through absorbing spirit stones. He couldn’t help but feel elated.

Looking at the remaining three hundred or so spirit stones, An Lin knew that his use for them had probably come to an end.

After all, if everything went according to the pattern, ranking up again would require ten billion spirit stones…

Although he had this in mind, he still stubbornly glanced at the system.

If he didn’t look, he wouldn’t have realized; once he looked though, An Lin was stunned by what he saw.