Chapter 142: One Would Have to Spend Money to Grow Stronger

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　Back at the dormitory.

　　Fang Ping went straight to Fu Changding’s dorm.

　　When Fu Changding opened the door, Fang Ping immediately said, “I’m selling medicine. 100 Normal Vitality Pills, 8 Rank-1 pills, and 5 Rank-1 Bone-honing Pills!”

　　“What!”

　　Fu Changding was dumbfounded, then he said disbelievingly, “Are you crazy? Selling again! Also, just how much did you get this time?”

　　Fang Ping had just sold close to ten million worth of medicinal pills last time!

　　And he was doing it again!

　　Fang Ping, this bastard, just how much did he earn in missions?

　　Fang Ping waved his hand and said, “Cut the chit-chat. Are you going to buy them? If you’re not, I’ll ask Yang Xiaoman and the others.”

　　These people’s familial backgrounds were not bad. Zhao Lei’s father was also a Rank-5 martial artist. Fang Ping did not ask about Yang Xiaoman’s family, but she would at least have an elder who was a Rank-4 or 5.

　　The bigger the family, the more the requests for these normal medicinal pills.

　　Like Fang Ping, if he did not use Wealth points, he would use at least 10 Normal Vitality Pills a month to cultivate.

　　100 pills sounded like it was a lot, but it would be how much a martial artist close to Peak Rank-1 like Fu Changding would use in a year.

　　“I’ll buy them!”

　　Fu Changding was a little speechless, but he still let Fang Ping come in. He thought for a moment before saying, “These medicinal pills of yours are worth 14.9 million in the market, right?”

　　“Uh-huh.”

　　“A twelve percent discount, 13 million, isn’t less.”

　　Fang Ping was astonished. “You think I can’t do math? A twelve percent discount is 13.112 million. You’re discounting an additional Vitality Pill?”

　　“You… You…”

　　Fu Changding almost spat blood. Was it not normal to round up to the nearest zero?

　　He eyed Fang Ping and answered impatiently, “Medicinal pills that are left for too long lose their effectiveness. I haven’t finished the last batch I bought.

　　“Moreover, it’s a private transaction. You’ve even saved on tax, so can’t you round it up?”

　　“Fine. 13 million then, and you’ll treat me to dinner tonight.”

　　“You should be the one treating me!”

　　Fu Changding was displeased. This bastard had sold 22 million worth of medicinal pills to him in two sales!

　　Yet he still wanted Fu Changding to treat him!

　　Still, a twelve percent discount was slightly cheaper than if they bought it themselves, so he would treat Fang Ping if he had to.

　　After some thought, Fu Changding still asked, “Fang Ping, sometimes some things can’t be bought with money. I think, now, you…”

　　Fang Ping had sold so many medicinal pills. It did not have to be said, he had definitely run out of credits.

　　He was only Rank-1 too. It was a coincidence that Fang Ping had the opportunity to accumulate so many credits in this period.

　　There might not be such good chances in the future.

　　Fang Ping spent so much, and the money he got from the sales was spent on who knows what. Fang Ping’s family did not have the means to support. If he kept going this way, when he reached Rank-2, his expenditure for cultivation would be much higher. Where would he get the resources?

　　“It’s nothing. I keep track.”

　　Fang Ping did not say much and handed Fu Changding the medicinal pills. Fu Changding checked through them once before calling his father.

　　His father did not disagree either. These were medicinal pills that were often used after all. If Fang Pill was selling 100 Viscera-shielding Pills, not many people would accept that.

　　However, Vitality Pills and Bone-honing Pills were all required by martial artists below Rank-3, so there was no worry that nobody would want it.

　　It was not the two’s first transaction, so very quickly, Fang Ping received a text notification.

　　Balance: 14.5 million!

　　Furthermore, his Wealth points increased yet again. The system estimated medicinal pills and elixirs to be around 70% of the market price, so the difference was not much.

　　Now, Fang Ping sold it at an 88% price, which was more than the market price by 18%.

　　Of course, it was not absolute. Sometimes, the system’s calculations could be higher or lower. Fang Ping’s Wealth points increased by 2.6 million this time, along with an additional 500 thousand from the medicinal pills exchange earlier.

　　Fang Ping’s Wealth points shot up by 3.1 million!

　　Currently, Fang Ping’s total Wealth points reached 15.18 million!

　　The dispiritedness he felt at spending so much on buying the saber earlier vanished in a split-second.

　　Fang Ping crunched the numbers. He could consider himself wealthy now.

　　He had close to 15 million in cash, a company worth ten million, a weapon worth ten million, and he still had two Rank-2 Vitality Pills too.

　　Anybody who had as much as he did in the whole of MCMAU was probably at least a Rank-3 or 4 martial artists, right?

　　…

　　Fang Ping returned to his dormitory and called home.

　　The person who answered was Li Yuying. Before Fang Ping could exchange a few words with his mother, the phone was snatched away by Fang Yuan.

　　It was a weekend, so Fang Yuan was free.

　　When she got the phone, Fang Yuan smiled wide and said, “Fang Ping, do you not have enough money to spend at school? Should I transfer you some living expenses…”

　　“What?”

　　Fang Ping was stunned for a moment before saying, displeased, “What thing of mine did you sell this time?”

　　“Cheh, who’s selling your stuff?”

　　Fang Yuan immediately denied it and giggled, “I earned it myself. Also, I’m a teacher now.”

　　“Huh?”

　　“I teach people pole-standing. I teach for an hour every day after school and collect 10 bucks per person. I’m teaching more than ten people now, so I get more than a hundred a day…”

　　Fang Ping did not lecture her this time, only saying, “10 bucks an hour? That’s all you can see?”

　　Fang Yuan’s pole-standing was not much either, but a martial artist’s thing could be summarized in one word—expensive!

　　It was good that Fang Yuan’s pole-standing was taught by Fang Ping. Fang Ping’s pole-standing was at the firm stance, and there was even a possibility of reaching the elevated stance now.

　　And his pole-standing was taught by Wang Jinyang.

　　Wang Jinyang was definitely stronger than Fang Ping.

　　Fang Yuan’s pole-standing origin was not bad. It was at least better than the Tan brothers’ inherited version. The Tan brothers’ pole-standing came from Tan Zhenping.

　　Although Fang Yuan was blindly messing around, a fee of 10 bucks an hour was not much.

　　After saying this, Fang Ping thought for a moment before saying, “You can teach pole-standing, but just teach the basics. Don’t go around teaching other stuff. Other people don’t have enough Vitality. If they cultivate too deeply, they’ll hurt themselves. Do you understand what I mean?”

　　If pole-standing was taught for horse-riding, that was strengthening and training the body.

　　However, if it was learned as pole-standing, it would deplete a large amount of Vitality. Fang Yuan’s classmates would not be able to handle it and could easily hurt themselves.

　　“I know. I already told them. They know it too. They’re just learning the form.

　　“Fang Ping, do you want me to transfer money to you?”

　　“No need. Keep it for yourself. I’ve earned quite a bit too recently…”

　　“You earned money too?”

　　“Uh-huh.”

　　“How much did you earn?”

　　“Just about ten million.”

　　“Heh heh!”

　　“Heh heh, my ass. Up to you to believe it or not. Pass the phone to Mom.”

　　Very quickly, the phone was in Li Yuying’s hands. Fang Ping could hear Fang Yuan nagging off at the side. “Mom, Fang Ping’s bragging again. He said he earned ten million. I offered to give him living expenses out of the goodness of my heart, yet he’s too proud and refused…”

　　Fang Ping did not mind her. He smiled. “Mom, I transferred 500 thousand home, so if you need any money to spend at home, you don’t have to be thrifty.”

　　“500 thousand? Pingping…”

　　“Mom, it’s just 500 thousand. It’s not considered much. Here in martial arts university, my results are good, and the instructors have a good impression of me. Any one medicinal pill given to me is already worth hundreds of thousands.

　　“Anyway, if you need money, just let me know. Also, look after Fang Yuan, that girl.

　　“Money signs are going to pop out of that girl’s eyes. Make sure she doesn’t mess around.”

　　“A kid like you… I heard that practicing martial arts uses up a lot of money. It’s bad enough our family can’t give you any money, but you’re even transferring money to us. How can your dad and I use so much money…”

　　“There’s no harm in being prepared. Just keep it and use it when you need it.

　　“I’m a martial artist now after all. You and Dad don’t have to be thrifty. You know it too—martial artists are big figures. If my parents dress in patches and ate like beggars, how would others look at me?

　　“Buy some nicer clothes and learn to drive or something. Don’t let Dad ride that electric scooter anymore. After you get a driving license, buy a car to replace it.”

　　After Fang Ping said this, Li Yuying felt some reluctance when he put it that way.

　　Her son was right. Martial artists were big figures. There was no problem eating thrifty, but if they were not dressed well, and word got out, would it not embarrass her son?

　　As they conversed, Fang Yuan once again stole the phone and said loudly, “Fang Ping, have you earned so much?”

　　“What did you think? Don’t compete with me. The earlier you stop messing around, the better.

　　“Your treasury can’t even compare to the oil that drips off my fingers.”

　　Fang Yuan pursed her lips, mumbling, “So what if you have money. I have money too. I’m still little. When I grow up, I’ll be more amazing than you!”

　　“Yeah yeah yeah, you’re amazing. Remember to buy some good things to eat and stop being so skinny.”

　　“I still feel like you’re not concerned about me!”

　　Fang Yuan nagged. Her brother always said this when he called. Eat more and stop being so skinny.

　　“You brat. You don’t know a good person’s heart. Of course I’m worried about you…”

　　The siblings chatted more before hanging up. Fang Ping’s mood lightened up suddenly.

　　In this one month, he had been running around, killing and hurting people. No matter how cheerful one was, one would still feel down.

　　Now, it was much better.

　　…

　　When he had finished dealing with these, Fang Ping once again examined his stats:

　　Wealth: 15180000

　　Vitality: 299cal (308cal)

　　Mentality: 256Hz (269Hz)

　　Bone-honing: 55 bones (90%), 1 bone (45%), 150 bones (30%)

　　“I still have 7 bones left in my lower limbs before my honing is complete, and it would need 4.05 million Wealth points.

　　“I’m afraid my body won’t be able to withstand it. In this case, I should buy some Body-strengthening Elixirs. I’ll buy them with money.”

　　Fang Ping calculated. If his body could withstand it, he would reach Peak Rank-1 first.

　　If he could not, he would buy some Body-strengthening Elixir and increase the rate of his body’s honing.

　　Fang Ping did not hesitate and chose to immediately improve his honing.

　　Very quickly, his bones numbed once again.

　　Half an hour later…

　　Hiss…

　　Fang Ping felt his body throb a little, then the previous numbness vanished.

　　Currently, his honing statistics changed too:

　　Wealth: 12930000

　　Vitality: 297cal (312cal)

　　Mentality: 250Hz (269Hz)

　　Bone-honing: 59 bones (90%), 147 bones (30%)

　　“My body has reached its limit. I have to buy some Body-strengthening Elixir or some other similar medicine to increase my skin and meridians’ tenacity.”

　　Fang Ping still had 3 bones left to hone before his lower limbs were completely honed.

　　Furthermore, right now, there were 3 months left before his classes started!

　　“You really have to spend money to grow stronger…”

　　Fang Ping once again crunched the numbers. He had to buy the Body-strengthening Elixir to hone his body. He already bought a weapon, so what was left was to cultivate some combat techniques related to saber techniques and staff techniques.

　　The fengzuidao could be disassembled and used as a staff, or it could be used as a saber too.

　　“I should cultivate stronger fist and leg techniques too.

　　“The basic combat techniques’ effects have their limits now…”

　　…

　　The next day, December came.

　　Fang Ping entered the big class again and felt as if he was in a dream.

　　Last month, they had missed cultural studies. The school was not going to replace the class for them either, so they had to rely on themselves to study it and follow along with the classes.

　　The moment Fang Ping and the others entered, other students’ gazes on them became more troubled.

　　The class heard the news that Lu Kunqiang had died because of special training.

　　A few martial artists who could not enter the special training classes did not know if they should be happy that they could not get in or disappointed as their distance would only grow larger.

　　In reality, this trend was already very obvious.

　　As of today, the special training classes’ students had pretty much completed a limb’s honing. Even if they did not, it would very quickly not become a problem.

　　As for the other people in the class, quite a few of them were still not yet martial artists. Even if they were, the number of bones they honed were mostly still in the single digits.

　　The difference between them and the special training classes was not merely the number of bones they honed.

　　There was still their familiarity with combat techniques, their experiences with actual combat and the amount of blood they had seen.

　　Even if everyone’s Vitality and the number of bones honed were the same, the special training classes’ students would still be victorious.

　　Fang Ping had just sat down in his seat when he heard the people beside him discuss, “There is going to be a reform!”

　　“How can they be faked? They’re really going to reform. Now, they’re already seeking opinions from all parties. It will probably be enacted in Year 09.”

　　“There’s not much to do with us, is there? Even if they re-establish the difficulty of the rankings, we would still be what rank we are then. It’s just Vitality martial artists who would be troubled.”

　　“There are other changes aside from that!”

　　A student said mysteriously, “I heard someone say the government has plans to propagate martial strength!

　　“Later on, the government will host some battle competitions, challenge competitions and national competitions that have to do with martial arts everywhere.

　　“Matches between martial artists had always been very strictly hidden before, and there were very programs such as this aired on the internet too.

　　“But I heard that later on, a few competitions would be broadcasted live, not on the internet, but through the big news channels as news.

　　“Someone even… Even suggested that life or death battles could be aired, so regular people can see some bloodshed!”

　　“They won’t, would they?”

　　Someone felt it was inappropriate and disagreed. “This isn’t appropriate. Many people are regular citizens, like our families. Looking at these programs, our families would worry about us and might even be afraid to let their kids practice martial arts…”

　　“They’re still discussing it, but I feel it doesn’t matter. You still have to practice martial arts when you have to.”

　　“…”

　　As everybody discussed fervently, Fang Ping and the others’ expressions remained as usual. Of course, they did still feel something in their hearts.

　　The government was taking action!

　　Was this a sign of the situation worsening?

　　Or was it just following the trend and preparing to let normal people slowly get to know the true bloodthirstiness of the martial artists’ circle?

　　The internet was getting more and more advanced. Some news spread very fast.

　　Rather than letting those sects cause trouble, the government could also desire to slowly expose the truth.

　　Of course, it was currently just the beginning.

　　They would slowly let normal people accept all this and let them understand that martial artists were not as laidback as they imagined, not as comfortable. Martial artists also died and fought, and they would also risk their lives for improvement.

　　Furthermore, officially broadcasting the various competitions on television would let martial artists gain fame and let powerhouses become household names. This was also to stimulate normal people to head towards becoming martial artists.

　　Fang Ping did not know if this change was good or bad.

　　He also did not know if this would have any actual effect.

　　However, there were still some benefits. It would help some martial artists vent some of their pent-up resentment.

　　Many martial artists died without news. Saying they died for humanity was not an exaggeration either.

　　However, they died without any fanfare. Whether or not their deaths were worth it was unknown. Letting normal people know more about them meant they could spread the word about those martial artists. Even if they only thought of them in that one second, it was more worth it than dying without any news.

　　Moreover, hosting competitions might make some Vitality martial artists head towards becoming actual combat martial artists.

　　Vitality martial artists and combat martial artists only differed in the cultivation of combat techniques.

　　If these people wanted to change to that, it was actually very easy.

　　“This way, martial artists Rank-3 and below would have a chance to become famous too.”

　　In class, someone said this and triggered some emotions in many of them.

　　Before this, only Grandmasters and powerhouses were famous.

　　How many people knew of martial artists Rank-3 and below?

　　But various competitions would open that window. There would definitely be martial arts competitions targeting people Rank-3 and below. This was their opportunity to become famous.

　　“What say you guys, would it be like the Grandmaster ranking, where an authoritative ranking of people Rank-3 and below would be released?”

　　“It’s very likely!”

　　“…”

　　The ranking of people Rank-3 and below today, made by a few organizations, was only for entertainment because the military department people took up one portion of it. It was not publicly available and was for the eyes of those in the know.

　　After some time though, perhaps an official ranking of people Rank-3 and below.

　　Fang Ping’s thoughts were far away, unsure of what to think.