76: Chapter 76 The Golden Core is Complete, But Something's Wrong with This Core

The giant, twisted from pure lightning in the sky, hadn't even stepped down yet, but the mere pressure caused everyone's hearts below to stop, their breathing becoming uneven.

This wasn't just thunder and rain.

This was the Heavenly Dao losing its temper, personally stepping onto the field to clean up after someone who had exploited a bug.

"It's over, we've hit a steel plate."

Downstairs, Xiao Fan simply buried his face in his knees; what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.

If that lightning giant really smashed down, let alone Brother Gu's Dormitory 404, the entire administration building would turn into a smoking crater.

Yet, as the lightning giant axe was about to touch the stray hair on top of Gu Fan's head...

Gu Fan didn't even lift an eyelid.

Instead, he sank deeper into the bean bag chair, shifted into a comfortable position, and muttered softly, "System, a bit harder, you're about to break my bones with this massage."

[Ding! Detected a humanoid Heavenly Tribulation harassing the host's rest.]

[Judgment: This behavior seriously violates the fundamental principle of 'Lying flat is the hard truth'.]

[Malice value maxed out, backlash effect triggered!]

[Activating special affix: Use softness to overcome hardness, borrow strength to counter strength, turn into nutrients for me!]

BOOM—!

The imagined earth-shattering roar didn't come, nor did flesh and blood fly everywhere.

The giant axe, filled with an aura of destruction, touched the layer of golden light around the bean bag chair and sounded like a red-hot iron hissing into butter, or like a bristling tiger being stroked into submission.

The originally violent purple-gold lightning instantly lost its temper, turning into streams of warm current that drilled into Gu Fan's body along the patterns of the sofa.

"Oh~"

Gu Fan suddenly threw his head back, letting out a long sigh of pleasure that reached his very bones.

It wasn't pain; it was bliss.

Bliss from his toes to the crown of his head.

"Yes, yes, yes, that's the spot! Oh boy, that massage even made my kidneys feel good!"

The lightning giant in the sky froze.

It had no brain, but as an Incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, it instinctively sensed humiliation.

My strike actually became a... massage for that ant below?

ROAR!!!

The giant threw its head back and roared, its body swelling another size. It raised both hands, wanting to drain the lightning for a hundred miles around to trigger a self-destruction.

"Don't stop, big brother!"

Gu Fan noticed the energy transmission had slowed down a beat and opened one eye in dissatisfaction. "That last hit only cleared my Ren and Du meridians; the Eight extraordinary meridians aren't through yet! Do it again, make it snappy!!"

This provocation was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

The tribulation giant went completely mad.

It dove down, its entire body turning into a massive ball of lightning, intending to melt Gu Fan along with that damned sofa.

Unfortunately, it didn't understand what karmic retribution meant.

The more ruthless you are, the better I feel.

The moment it collided, the golden sofa beneath Gu Fan erupted with a blinding light.

[Law of Karma · Super Power Bank Mode, activated!]

"Slurp—"

A very comical slurping sound echoed through heaven and earth.

The hundred-zhang-tall lightning giant, like a bathtub with the plug pulled, hit the sofa and instantly saw its entire body shrink, twist, and elongate, finally being 'sucked' into a funnel vortex.

Then, this exaggerated energy was converted through the sofa's filter into the mildest and most nourishing spiritual liquid, shoved all at once into Gu Fan's Dantian.

How was this undergoing a tribulation? This was damn well force-feeding! Like a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast!

Every pore on Gu Fan's body opened up. The Dantian Qi Sea was filled, compressed, filled again, and compressed again.

The originally liquid Spiritual Qi, under this tyrannical force, began to spin like crazy, heading towards a solid state.

"Crack."

A crisp sound rang out inside his body and simultaneously in the hearts of all the big shots present.

That was the sound of a life-level upgrade.

The dark clouds in the sky were wiped away as if by an invisible giant hand; they had come mysteriously and left decisively.

In the blink of an eye, the moon and stars appeared, as if the lightning storm just now had been a collective nightmare.

Only Gu Fan remained, still slumped on that shimmering golden sofa, his body emitting an indescribable aura.

He inspected the changes inside his body, his expression... a bit hard to describe.

In the very center of his Dantian.

A bead the size of a pigeon's egg was spinning sluggishly.

Normally, this thing is called a Golden Core, so it should be golden and perfectly round.

But his... the left half was pure black, the right half was a blindingly bright white. The two colors were distinct yet merged with extraordinary harmony—a total panda color scheme?

Even more ridiculous, other people's Golden Cores emit Spiritual Qi and spin rapidly. His, on the other hand, spun slower than an old man strolling in the park, making one suspect it might quit at any second.

Moreover, in the very center of this panda Golden Core, an ancient character was naturally carved in a flamboyant style.

Gu Fan squinted for a long time to recognize it.

The character for 'Lie' (as in lying down).

"..."

Gu Fan's mouth twitched. "System, get the hell out here. Other people's Golden Cores are carved with high-end characters like 'Dao', 'Law', or 'Kill'. What is mine? A lying flat vocational qualification certificate?"

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for condensing the 'Great Dream Lying Flat Core' (Divine Grade).]

[Characteristic: This core is formed by the condensation of the purest 'slacking' Laws in heaven and earth. The more soundly the host sleeps, the faster it spins and the more vigorously Spiritual Qi grows. Comes with a passive Domain—'Great Dream Lying Flat Domain'.]

Before Gu Fan could complain about the trashy name, a strange ripple spread from him like water ripples, oscillating outward in circles.

This ripple wasn't the least bit aggressive; it didn't even have Spiritual Qi pressure.

It only transmitted one feeling—sleepiness.

Like a spring afternoon, after eating and drinking your fill, lying on the grass in the sun with a light breeze blowing—that kind of sleepiness that seeps out from the marrow of your bones.

Downstairs.

Lin Xue, who had been holding her flying daggers ready to fight for her life, suddenly felt her eyelids grow heavy as if two pieces of iron were hanging from them.

"What's... going on..."

She shook her head, and the flying daggers in her hand fell to the ground with a 'clang'. "I really want to... sleep..."

Xiao Fan next to her was even more direct. He stabbed his greatsword into the ground and leaned against the hilt, his head nodding. He had already started talking in his sleep: "Club Leader... awesome... zzz..."

This bizarre scene spread rapidly.

The students watching had been there for the excitement, but now they were yawning one after another. Some simply sat on the ground and started snoring within three seconds.

Even the instructors and experts hiding in the shadows felt an irresistible wave of sleepiness hit their brains, wishing they could find a pillow and lie down immediately.

In the sky.

A streak of light rushed over at high speed.

It was Dean Zhuge Qing, who had sensed something was wrong.

He was a Martial God level big shot with a willpower harder than steel, but even he felt like his brain had been filled with paste at this moment.

"What... what the hell is this?! A mental attack?!"

Zhuge Qing was startled and hurriedly circulated his Spiritual Qi to resist. He managed to stay conscious and landed on the roof of Dormitory 404.

As soon as he stood firm, he saw the figure still slumped in the sofa.

Gu Fan lazily lifted his eye mask. Seeing Zhuge Qing, he gave a listless wave.

"Yo, Lord Dean, good evening."

Zhuge Qing looked at Gu Fan with a gaze as if he were looking at a monster that had just popped out of a rock.

This kid didn't have a single scratch on him! Not even a strand of hair was singed!

Moreover, the faint Golden Core aura on him actually gave even a Martial God like himself a trace of... an urge to retire and go back to his hometown to farm?

"Gu Fan, you... formed your core?" Zhuge Qing's voice was a bit dry.

"Probably, maybe, possibly."

Gu Fan sat up a bit straighter and gave a huge stretch, his bones popping all over. "I just feel a bit tired and want to catch up on some sleep."

Zhuge Qing was about to say a few polite words and investigate the details of that Lightning Tribulation.

But Gu Fan suddenly pointed at his casual clothes, which were soiled with dust, and asked with a serious face:

"By the way, Dean, there's something I need to ask."

"You see, I've basically blocked a disaster for the academy, and my clothes got dirty. Does our academy handle laundry? If not, can I get a cash reimbursement for the dry cleaning fee? Not much, just fifty academic credits will do."

Zhuge Qing: "..."

As the grand Dean of Tianqiong War God Academy, managing tens of thousands of students, he had seen people ask for Medicinal Pills, Cultivation Techniques, and status.

But he had never fucking seen someone whose first priority after surviving a tribulation was to ask for a dry cleaning reimbursement!

What kind of logic was this?!

"Get out!"

Zhuge Qing's beard trembled with rage, the sleepiness induced by the 'Lying Flat Domain' washed away by his anger. "Hurry up and get ready for the Hundred Clubs Battle! If you don't win the championship, forget the dry cleaning fee—I'll make you scrub every toilet in this building!"

"Tsk, stingy."

Gu Fan curled his lip, put his eye mask back on, and curled back into the sofa. "Got it, got it. It's just a fight... talk about it when I wake up."

Looking at this piece of 'rolling meat' before him, Zhuge Qing felt his chest tightening.

But as he turned around and looked at Gu Fan's carefree appearance, a trace of hard-to-detect complexity flashed in his eyes.

"Golden Core Stage... and a grade I've never seen before."

"Forget it, forget it. Maybe this unreliable kid really can stir up this pool of stagnant water..."

Zhuge Qing sighed and walked away with his hands behind his back.

If he didn't leave now, he really would want to lie down and sleep here too.

That night, Dormitory 404 became the quietest place in the entire academy.

Because within a five-hundred-meter radius, every living thing had fallen asleep.

Including those who had intended to come over to cause trouble; they were now sleeping like dead pigs in the bushes by the road.

This was Gu Fan's new ability—Convincing People with Virtue (Physical Hypnosis Version)... Three days later.

The central square of Tianqiong War God Academy was as noisy as a wet market.

This was the teleportation point for the Hundred Clubs Battle trial ground, Thunder Roar Canyon.

A hundred clubs, several thousand students dressed in various equipment, stood in the square like a dense forest of steel. That Killing Intent could scare a coward senseless.

Gu Fan yawned and kicked Xiao Fan, who was still drooling at his feet:

"Wake up, stop sleeping. Look at their energy, then look at us. Does this look right? Hurry up and wipe the toothpaste foam from the corner of your mouth. We're going to rob... oh no, to take the championship."