It was a very long road from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Golden Core stage.

　　If one day you had this type of opportunity in front of you: you just needed to eat this one fruit and your strength would gradually increase. In a few short days, you would obtain superhuman power and transcend the Golden Core stage in one go, maybe even level up to a higher realm… this fruit then, would you eat it or not?

　　If people knew that there weren’t any risks in doing so, Wang Ling felt that most of them would choose to eat it without a second thought. At the moment, however, no one knew what side effects the fruit might produce.

　　Perhaps there were some students who would eat it, but scrolling through the group chat records, most of the people in class were for the moment actually staying rational.

　　They weren’t affected by what had happened today when Xiao Yuncheng had exploded with power and sent his Golden Core teacher flying.

　　There were no shortcuts in cultivation.

　　Likewise, meat pies didn’t drop from the sky for free.

　　This couldn’t be considered a mistake on Shuigou Sect’s part. While the majority of students remained rational, there would definitely still be students who would choose to eat the fruit. For Shuigou Sect, as long as even one student in No. 60 High School ate the fruit, their plan could be considered a success.

　　This incident quickly fermented alarm that night, rousing the entire media circus.

　　Because they didn’t know whether there was anything wrong with the fruit, the General Administration of 100 Schools instantly issued a notification that night requesting that the teachers of No. 60 High School work together to go from house to house to collect the fruits. Students who had already eaten the fruit should then be sent to the hospital for an overall checkup.

　　Wang Ling was scrolling through all types of opinions online when he noticed a post in Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s cultivation forum.

　　Question: How should you view the matter of No. 60 High School receiving fruits from Shuigou Sect? Does a shortcut in cultivation truly exist? Is this considered a cheat?

　　The person who had responded was a very knowledgeable and experienced commenter in the forum, Abbot Zhihu.

　　Back when the chat group had been first established, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal had in fact personally issued an invite to this abbot, but the abbot had turned it down.

　　According to Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal, the abbot was a wise man who had abandoned the ways of the world. He disdained being reliant on information technology like the chat group as a way of making connections with people. What he pursued was the connection between souls and minds! That was why he would often appear in major posts in the cultivation discussion forum where he would resolve the people’s spiritual bewilderment.

　　This question had been posted by an online user at six in the evening on the cultivation forum, and Abbot Zhihu had responded fairly quickly; he had recorded a short video which he swiftly uploaded in the replies section of the original post.

　　In the video, he unfolded and held up a scroll, which actually depicted a well-known landscape painting.

　　Wang Ling could clearly see the old verse written at the top: While picking chrysanthemums beneath the Eastern fence, My gaze upon the Southern mountain rests. Then, Abbot Zhihu hung the picture scroll up on the wall.

　　Viewers could send bullet messages while they watched the video, and at this point, many of them couldn’t help sending out string after string of messages.

　　“Does anyone know why Abbot Zhihu is showing us this scroll?”

　　“Perhaps the answer is hidden in the chrysanthemums in the scroll?”

　　“Hm… Is the abbot telling us that if we’re discussing so-called cultivation shortcuts, we might as well admire the landscape instead? Maybe then we will be able to appreciate universal truths!”

　　As the bullet messages flew across the screen, Wang Ling then saw Abbot Zhihu actually open his right hand, and in the next instant, a boundless golden light glowed beneath his Buddhist robes!

　　Someone sent another bullet message: “Damn! This is Abbot Zhihu’s specialty, the Sun Vajra Palm!”

　　The rumor was that when he used this palm technique, it would produce intense light like the bright sun, hence the name!

　　It caught everyone by surprise, and it was too much for many people to take in. They all saw a bright glare in the video, and then heard a loud explosion!

　　As the light dispersed, the wall which the landscape painting had been hanging on had already been completely destroyed, reduced to fine dust that scattered in the wind…

　　“What on earth is Abbot Shizhu’s meaning?”

　　“Everyone, don’t flood the screen! Listen to his explanation!”

　　Meanwhile, more and more bullet messages flew in…

　　After destroying the wall, Abbot Zhihu slowly turned around to the camera and observed the proper Buddhist courtesy. “Amitabha! Very good, very good… There have never been any shortcuts in cultivation. This old monk has just shown you that there is no good ending for cheaters ¹ !”

　　Everyone: “…”

　　Wang Ling: “…”

　　…

　　From the end of school that day to eight o’clock that night, this fruit delivery incident had already thoroughly boiled over online. Almost every student in No. 60 High School had received Shuigou Sect’s fruit delivery. Furthermore, this incident was restricted to just No. 60 High School; this was undoubtedly a revenge operation targeted at the school.

　　Back when Old Antique had still been Gorgeous Itinerant, he had mistakenly killed Taoist Taotie’s adopted son Black Gauze. Now, Taoist Taotie wanted to kill all the students in No. 60 High School as revenge for his adopted son… Wang Ling thought that perhaps Old Antique himself had never expected things to blow up so much.

　　As for Odd Zhuo who didn’t know the full story, this was yet another pain in the ass!

　　He realized that each time something major happened in Songhai city, No. 60 High School was without fail involved… It was just too toxic!

　　On this side, Wang Ling was still considering countermeasures when Odd Zhuo had already sent him an aggrieved text message with just a few words: Shifu ! Help me, shifu ! Wang Ling: “…”

　　Odd Zhuo’s phone was ringing off the hook, so this was the only way he could contact Wang Ling.

　　Wang Ling had actually thought of a solution, but he didn’t know whether it could work. Just as he was thinking about calling a particular person, in the end that person actually straightaway gave him a call at that moment, like a human parasite that wouldn’t let go.

　　“Hello, Brother Ling? Have you seen the news?”

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s voice sounded from the phone. “I’m sure there are students who definitely ate this fruit! Looking at the current situation, this fruit will probably form massive balls of spirit potential inside their bodies. By relying purely on these Foundation Establishment bodies, once the balls reach a saturation point, they’ll explode. We now have to think of a way to drain these students of these balls of spirit potential!”

　　When he said this, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal as well as Wang Ling tacitly thought of the same thing: the Heavenly Materials sword left behind by the Master of Immortal Mansion.

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal: “Brother Fang Xing has already regained consciousness. I gave him a call just now for a better idea of what happened – when he was struck by the Heavenly Materials sword, he had clearly felt it continuously draining him of spirit energy!”

　　Wang Ling nodded silently; he knew that this was the effect produced by the “Anti-Wang Ling Matter” in the blade.

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal let out a sigh. “We actually don’t have any other way to solve this problem… We can only take the Heavenly Materials sword with us and pierce each student with it!”

　　“…”

　　Mm… Indeed, it sounded a little brutal, but actually, this mostly matched Wang Ling’s own plan.