Chapter 280: Do You Believe He Would Dare To Collect Toll Fees?

　　In the Vitality Pool.

　　Fang Ping gradually sensed a blood-red Vitality passageway forming outside his heart, connecting with the blood vessels that had previously opened up in his body.

　　However, this passageway was very dim and shallow.

　　“It’s not stable enough. It’ll collapse very fast.”

　　Fang Ping had to continue consuming a large amount of his Vitality’s strength to firm up this passageway.

　　Once the passageway was stabilized, the pumping sound of his heart beating seemed to pound in Fang Ping’s ear.

　　His heartbeat was becoming clearer!

　　However, along with his heartbeat, the strength of his Vitality started to transmit. Signs of unsteadiness appeared once again at the bridge of his heart.

　　“Still not enough!”

　　Fang Ping did not care anymore and continued putting in more strength from his Vitality. He also started using Mentality to capture the strength of Vitality that was filling the cultivation chamber.

　　These were not energy particles—they were the strength of Vitality that were converted straight from energy particles.

　　When his Mentality moved slightly, Fang Ping realized they were much easier to capture than energy particles.

　　The strength of Vitality he had depleted was recovering speedily.

　　…

　　500cal… 800cal…

　　Fang Ping kept his Vitality flowing as he filled the Celestial Bridge.

　　The strength of Vitality in the Vitality Pool was also continuously being absorbed by him.

　　…

　　Outside the chamber.

　　The expression on the face of the instructor changed slightly, and he said in a low voice, “Dean Li, have you clarified it with him?”

　　Old Man Li did not make a sound.

　　He had forgotten something!

　　However, it was not something that was too important.

　　When building the Celestial Bridge that connects the external and internal for the first time, there is no need for it to be too stable. As long as a passageway could roughly be formed, it would suffice. It would not collapse and could be slowly strengthened later on.

　　However… Fang Ping, this brat, had nearly depleted all his Vitality and was still endlessly absorbing the strength of Vitality from the Vitality Pool.

　　Until now, he still had not finished building a passageway. He was probably… Strengthening it, was he not?

　　“It’s fine,” Old Man Li said tonelessly.

　　The instructor responsible was close to tears and said helplessly, “This Rank-5 is sure to die!”

　　“If he dies, he dies.”

　　“Sigh!” The instructor exhaled.

　　‘You say it so easily. If he dies, it’ll be troublesome for us too.

　　‘He hasn’t even successfully built one passageway. If he keeps going on like this, it’ll only be a matter of time before this Rank-5 dies.’

　　…

　　“It’s so hard. How do other people do it?”

　　Fang Ping was dumbfounded.

　　His Vitality was above 1400cal, and his absorbance rate of the Vitality Pool’s strength of Vitality was extremely fast too.

　　However, it was still extremely difficult for him. Could it be that others popped pills like crazy and ate Rank-3 Vitality Pills like it was rice?

　　“Those casual martial artists don’t have Vitality Pools. Even popping pills can’t replenish their Vitality in time, can it?

　　“No, some martial arts universities don’t even have Vitality Pools. Could these people be even more prodigious than me? Bullsh*t!”

　　Fang Ping felt lost.

　　He had already consumed 1300cal of his Vitality. He did not keep track of how much the Vitality Pool replenished but he did have a rough number, and it was at least 600 or 700cal.

　　With 2000cal of Vitality, he could not stabilize even a single passageway!

　　For the other Peak Rank-3 martial artists, they had a limit of 1000cal of Vitality. If they held on and consumed 900cal and swallowed some medicine, it would already be considered a great feat if they could recover a few hundred cal in such a short amount of time.

　　They could successfully build a passageway with a little over 1000cal. Why could he not?

　　“It’s too strange. Could it have something to do with the strength of my physicality?”

　　Fang Ping still could not understand why he was struggling to build just a single passageway. Seeing that the Vitality Pool’s replenishment rate could not keep up with his consumption rate, he could only start using his Wealth points in exchange for it.

　　…

　　Outside the chamber.

　　When he saw that Fang Ping’s Vitality was endless, the instructor’s gaze changed. He uttered in a low voice, “The Vitality Pool… In order to maintain the purity of the strength of Vitality, the permeation of energy particles is cut off…”

　　Old Man Li hummed lightly and said plainly, “So what?”

　　The permeation of energy particles being cut off actually said a lot.

　　Could Fang Ping’s Vitality replenishment come out of nowhere?

　　It was understandable that Fang Ping could quickly absorb the strength of Vitality, but no one could have expected that he would be able to maintain his own strength of Vitality even after absorbing the power from the Vitality Pool. That could not be unless it was self-generated.

　　Even so, humans’ strength of recovery was limited. Even if he recovered it, he would still need energy particles to replenish it.

　　In other words, this Vitality really did come out of nowhere.

　　Old Man Li continued to say, “His bone marrow is like mercury. Perhaps he preserved some when he previously absorbed energy particles. For Grandmaster-ranked powerhouses, even if they were under circumstances where they were cut off from energy, they can still maintain their combat strength. That’s due to how they’ve stored energy for future use.”

　　“We haven’t reached Grandmaster-ranking yet, so we can’t understand that this is normal too.”

　　The instructor did not say anything. Could Fang Ping really do this?

　　It was very hard to believe!

　　However, Old Man Li gave such an explanation. Whether you believe it or not, you simply had to.

　　Not to mention Fang Ping had gone to a research institute two days ago and provided some blood, hair, and bone meal for analysis.

　　The results of the research had not come out yet, so he could only take it as a peculiarity in Fang Ping’s brain.

　　Actually, Fang Ping’s brain having a peculiarity was even more believable to the instructor.

　　The human body was complicated. Something like Mentality was a reflection of the complication. When Mentality replenished, where did it recover from?

　　Mentality does not draw from energy particles to recover. A Grandmaster-ranked powerhouse’s Mentality seemed to naturally recover once depleted—this was something unexplainable.

　　Perhaps there is an even higher dimension of energy that humankind had not discovered yet.

　　Fang Ping’s out-of-nowhere ability was similar to Mentality recovery.

　　Old Man Li was actually also suspecting—even certain—that a peculiarity did indeed appear in Fang Ping’s brain.

　　His Mentality also recovered extremely fast the previous time.

　　‘A peculiarity in the brain…’ He mumbled inwardly. Unless they really sliced open Fang Ping’s brain to research it, they would not be able to get to the bottom of this mysterious case. He did not carry any hopes toward the research institute.

　　‘I don’t care anymore. Up to him then. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen to him after this.’

　　Old Man Li shook his head lightly. A peculiarity was not necessarily a good thing.

　　…

　　At the same time that Fang Ping chose to break through.

　　In Magic City’s Catacombs, the alloy house’s door opened.

　　Lu Fengrou and the others stepped out one by one.

　　Just as she exited, she heard a familiar voice.

　　“Using Soft Shampoo makes you this confident!”

　　Lu Fengrou stiffened slightly, then turned her head to look at the person guarding the door.

　　The guard was currently leaning on the chair with a laptop displayed on the empty desk in front of him. When they were bored, they would watch movies or television shows.

　　Like how when Fang Ping and the others entered the championship back then, these people also watched the festivities from the screen.

　　Lu Fengrou turned her head slightly to look at the screen. She saw Fang Ping ruffling his short hair with swagger as his hand held a bottle of shampoo.

　　Seeing this, Lu Fengrou’s expression flickered.

　　One of the guards said, “Instructor Lu, the commercial that this student of yours shot is not bad. It’s pretty interesting.

　　“That’s right. There are others too. They’re pretty funny—much more interesting than those television shows…”

　　Lu Fengrou looked at him for a while. After a pause, she said faintly, “Did you put this on knowing that I was coming out so that I would see it?”

　　“Hahaha, yeah. I just wanted to share the joy with everyone.

　　“The Catacombs’ war is finally over. If our spirits are too low, it’s not good. It’ll easily lead to depression.

　　“This brat is interesting. After watching the commercials he shot, I’m not the littlest bit depressed anymore!”

　　“What commercials?”

　　The Tang Feng who had just walked out still carried a heavy scent of blood on him. He asked the question carelessly.

　　The guard picked up the laptop and showed it to him as if he was flaunting it. Chuckling, he said, “I’ll prepare a highlights reel and put up a small television in the center’s mission display to cheer everyone up when I head back later. It’s too quiet here, too deadly silent.

　　“Ah, martial artists are now more and more depressed. In the morning, I played this for those soldiers in the Military Department too and they were pretty happy.”

　　“Hehe!”

　　Lu Fengrou laughed and did not say anything as she walked away. Just as she took a few steps, the laptop in the guard’s hands was suddenly crushed into pieces!

　　The guard’s expression shifted slightly. Even the expressions on Tang Feng and the others all changed.

　　“She…”

　　The guard was shocked. If a Peak Rank-6 martial artist could manage to move a few objects, that was already considered amazing. Yet, Lu Fengrou had just smashed his laptop with such ease!

　　Tang Feng’s expression kept changing. He was somewhat unsettled.

　　Lu Fengrou’s Mentality had become even stronger!

　　If it went on like this, her Mentality was not far from being able to be expelled out.

　　Tang Feng mumbled, “It’s at least 800Hz!”

　　The expressions of a few other instructors beside him all changed.

　　“800Hz!”

　　“Mentality can be officially expelled out when it reaches 1000Hz. Wouldn’t this…”

　　“Even if her essence, spirit, and soul aren’t united as one to break the barrier, once her Mentality reaches 1000Hz, she would be able to forcefully break through the high-rank barrier!”

　　It was hard to tell if the instructors were happy or anxious.

　　The Vice-chancellor had been killed in battle. MCMAU had one less Grandmaster now. At this point, they could not even protect their own school. They had no choice but to kill some Rank-6 Catacomb martial artists to prevent a mess.

　　If they had another Grandmaster, there was no need to do so.

　　If Lu Fengrou broke through and became a Grandmaster, it would be good for MCMAU—or it could be said that anybody breaking through Grandmaster was a good thing for humankind.

　　However…

　　Tang Feng released a light breath, looking toward the faraway Lu Fengrou. He said in a low voice, “Those Sky Gate City bastards dueled with Guardian Wu many times. Lu Fengrou probably saw the difference too, so she won’t act rashly. This is a good thing.”

　　These few days in the Catacombs, the city-lord had been maniacally attacking because seven of the Sky Gate City’s high-ranks had been killed. The city-lord exchanged great blows with the guardian who had always been guarding the south. Both parties had dueled more than ten times.

　　Lu Fengrou had been there too and saw the difference, so she might not keep holding on to the idea of revenge.

　　“Hopefully,” the few instructors quietly said. As long as Lu Fengrou did not go looking for death’s door, she would soon become a Grandmaster and be a blessing for MCMAU.

　　However, seeing the situation now, she would still need a year or two if she wanted to break through.

　　After discussing about Lu Fengrou, Tang Feng suddenly thought of Fang Ping. He scoffed lightly as he said, “What mischief is Fang Ping up to again?”

　　The guard disagreed and smiled as he said, “This brat is quite famous now. He’s first in Rank-3 and invincible among them. What’s the point of caring so much if he shoots a few commercials and amuses people?

　　“People like us—we get drunk tonight if we have wine. We live for the now. Who knows if we have a tomorrow?

　　“Lion Tang, don’t make up too many rules. It’s so uninteresting.”

　　“First in Rank-3?”

　　Tang Feng was stunned for a moment. On the other hand, Luo Yichuan, whose body was still bleeding, smiled and said, “Is that true? That brat is first?”

　　“It’s true. The news is a few days old already, but you guys weren’t here. This brat is pretty interesting but he’s not as old-fashioned as you guys are. I quite like him. How about you send him over here to be my partner and we’ll guard the door together?”

　　Luo Yichuan chuckled and said, “Come on, if you let him guard this door, he’ll probably start collecting fees from us when we want to enter the Catacombs.”

　　Everybody was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.

　　The guard also broke into laughter. “It won’t get to that point, would it…”

　　Tang Feng sniffed and said, “Believe it. Perhaps if the Catacomb humans wanted to come out, he would even hold them here to collect fees from them!”

　　“Hahaha… If he really does have that strength, I earnestly hope that’ll happen.”

　　If he dared to collect toll from the Catacomb martial artists, what strength did that take?

　　If the Catacomb martial artists really came dashing out, there would be Rank-9 martial artists among them.

　　If Fang Ping really dared to stick his hand out to the Rank-9 powerhouses to collect fees, that meant his strength was much greater than the opponent. Even Commander Li might not be able to collect toll fees if he came.

　　The room was filled with laughter once more. Their allies’ deaths and friends’ sacrifices all seemed to be forgotten at this moment.

　　It was better to let sorrow lie at the bottom of one’s heart.

　　If they showed their sorrow, there wasn’t much good it would do other than affecting others’ morale.

　　As for Lu Fengrou who had left earlier, everybody had already forgotten about her.

　　This half-Grandmaster powerhouse was probably going to deal with Fang Ping now, right?

　　Tang Feng gloated a little. It was best if she pummeled that brat. Motherf*cker. He was angered by this brat to the point of manic after just exiting the Catacombs. A powerhouse who was invincible among Rank-3s filming a small commercial—he did not even know what to say.

　　…

　　Fang Ping naturally did not know that Lu Fengrou was back.

　　He also did not know that everybody was ridiculing him, saying that he would block the passageway’s entrance to collect fees.

　　If Fang Ping knew about it, he would definitely object.

　　He had not reached a truly matchless invincibility, so how would he dare to collect fees? He would not even have time to run.

　　However, Fang Ping might consider actually doing it when the day comes that the Catacombs have settled down and the world is conquered.

　　The current Fang Ping was still trying to build a Celestial Bridge.

　　When he had put in close to 4000cal of Vitality from start to finish, his heart’s bridge slowly firmed up.

　　Fang Ping complained darkly, “Doesn’t this mean it’s only possible with 20000cal of Vitality?”

　　The Vitality Pool was providing less and less Vitality. It would only be able to provide him 2000 or 3000cal before it was emptied.

　　With how things are going, he would have to consume at least 2 million wealth points before he could be done.

　　“It doesn’t matter. Two or three million will let me skip past the beginning stage. It’s a steal!”

　　After comforting himself for a while, Fang Ping started to build his liver’s bridge.

　　When he started building his liver’s bridge, Old Man Li and the instructor outside the chamber both gasped in surprise.

　　“The rate he’s absorbing Vitality is even faster now. This brat—did he stabilize the Celestial Bridge?”

　　“Probably.”

　　“He’s such a genius, though it’s a little extreme. Perhaps it won’t be long before he can start honing the vital organs.”

　　The instructor kept marveling at Fang Ping’s wise strategy. When he was compared to other people, it really made them mad!

　　Old Man Li did not care about this. He stroked his chin and muttered, “He’s already so strong. Are there still any students in MCMAU who can restrain him?”

　　If there was nobody to oppress Fang Ping, he would definitely cause a huge ruckus!

　　Before this, it was people like Zhang Yu who could hold Fang Ping down.

　　If even they could not hold him back anymore, it would just be a matter of time before he flipped MCMAU upside down, especially with that strength of his that is comparable to a few instructors.

　　Old Man Li felt he was worrying for nothing.

　　This brat was not that honest.

　　He knew just by looking at the things he did: reselling medicinal pills, starting a club and making people do useless work, making a loan platform, provoking the president of the Martial Arts Society…

　　All these things were not what honest students would do.

　　“Who will restrain him?”

　　Old Man Li wracked his brain. Chen Wenlong? Zhang Yu? Qin Fengqing?

　　None of them could stick to the script!

　　Before this, he could still count on Xie Lei but now… It was hard!

　　Xie Lei still lacked a little to reach Rank-4.

　　However, he was also nearing it. If nothing unexpected happens, it was possible for Xie Lei to enter Rank-4 once junior year starts. Though it all still depends on how Xie Lei himself thought.

　　“Could it be that when he causes trouble in the future, we can only count on the instructors to squelch him?”

　　Old Man Li stroked his beard, a little unsatisfied. If the instructors had to repress the students, that showed that the school was incapable.

　　Old Man Li cursed, “Motherf*cker, every batch of MCMAU students are more useless than the last. There’s not even a single Rank-5!”

　　Beside him, the corner of the instructor’s mouth twitched. ‘Sorry, I’m only Peak Rank-5 too.’ He saw Dean Li pointing at the mulberry tree to curse the locust.