111: Chapter 111 Shen Guhong's Invitation, Trouble at the Gang

Qin Zhaoye walked straight toward the group from the Shengwu Society.

His gaze swept carelessly over Lu Cheng, Lin Yifang, and the others, finally resting on President Ji Guyan. A faint, superior smile curled at the corners of his mouth, and his tone was so condescending it was almost charitable: "Isn't this President Ji Guyan? You were finally fast for once. I just submitted my society application, and you've already obtained the endorsement. Not bad, you've improved a bit compared to before."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the people on the Shengwu Society side sank instantly.

Lu Cheng raised an eyebrow slightly, tilted his head, and asked a member beside him in a low voice: "Who is this guy?"

The freshman immediately lowered his voice and quickly explained: "It's Qin Zhaoye from the Qin Family in the Imperial Capital! He's the fourth-place student in this year's entrance points, missing a perfect score by just two points... The Qin Family is extremely powerful. Not only in the Dragon Kingdom, but there are also three councilors from the Qin Family within the Human Federation. Rumor has it that there's even a Saint Realm ancestor holding down the fort."

He paused, his voice dropping even lower: "He and the President have been at odds since childhood. To be precise, the Qin Family and the Ji Family have been at odds for generations, and the two of them have been compared to each other ever since they were young."

From beginning to end, President Ji Guyan's expression remained calm; he didn't even spare a second glance. He spoke indifferently, his tone cold and sharp: "Whether I've improved or not isn't something to be decided by words. You and I haven't been on the same level for a long time, and you know that in your heart."

The smile on Qin Zhaoye's face froze instantly.

What he hated most was this nonchalant attitude of President Ji Guyan, as if he were already looking down on him.

"Not on the same level?" Qin Zhaoye sneered. A rich, potent blood energy suddenly erupted from his body. An ominous, dark-black aura spread like ink, naturally clashing with President Ji Guyan's holy light aura.

"President Ji Guyan, you only dare to say that now. Who was the one suppressed by me back then?"

The cold, oppressive pressure bore down directly. The lights in the hall flickered slightly, and the surrounding freshmen's breathing hitched as they retreated one after another.

Lu Cheng stood in the front row, his aura as steady as a rock, though his eyes were slightly cold.

This guy was intentionally applying pressure in public to humiliate President Ji Guyan and the Shengwu Society.

When Qin Zhaoye's gaze fell on Lu Cheng, that pressure suddenly eased slightly. With some unknown emotion, he retracted his aura and said coldly: "Enough nonsense. Do you dare to accept a society battle? The losing side hands over 30% of the earnings from every mission!"

President Ji Guyan finally raised his eyes. His gaze was calm but carried a bone-chilling indifference, like looking at an unreasonable child: "Have you still not grown up? Your society hasn't even passed the approval process; what are you going to fight me with? This kind of public wager—if I win, you lose face; if I lose, I lower my status. It's of no benefit to me. You... what do you count for?"

Qin Zhaoye's face turned completely livid, his knuckles turning white as he clenched them, and the black aura around him was almost boiling.

"President Ji Guyan..." he gritted his teeth, his voice low and trembling, "You are very good."

President Ji Guyan stopped looking at him and just spat out a single word indifferently: "Let's go."

The group turned and left immediately, crisp and clean, without a hint of hesitation.

Qin Zhaoye froze in place, watching their backs. Darkness churned in the depths of his eyes, and killing intent and unwillingness almost spilled out.

The people from the Zhenwu Society behind him didn't dare to speak, only able to persuade him in low voices: "Young Master Qin..."

Qin Zhaoye raised his hand to cut them off sharply, squeezing a cold sound from his throat: "Just wait. When the Zhenwu Society is established... I will let you know what price you will pay for refusing me."

...

After returning to the Shengwu Society, the atmosphere in the training hall relaxed quite a bit.

Just now in the Society Management Hall, that aura of Qin Zhaoye had indeed brought pressure to many people.

There wasn't a single simple character among the freshmen who could get a perfect score at the Navigator Academy.

Not to mention that Qin Zhaoye had the Qin Family behind him.

Lin Yifang sat down at the conference table and rubbed his temples.

"Once the Zhenwu Society's approval passes, I reckon their first order of business will be to target us."

Chen Zhanfeng stood to the side with his arms crossed.

"If they target us, then so be it. We'll have to fight sooner or later."

Li Huayi pushed up her glasses, her tone very calm.

"The problem is the earnings. We've just obtained the endorsement; our society's funds, mission qualifications, and member stability are all in an upward phase. There's no need to clash with them head-on right away."

Bai Zhou nodded.

"The other side clearly wants to use us to establish their prestige."

Lu Cheng leaned against the equipment rack, listening to their discussion, his heart not feeling much fluctuation.

It's just a school society. Competition is definitely inevitable.

Someone like Qin Zhaoye is clearly a top-tier scion of a great family who was pampered while growing up, very arrogant.

Those words of President Ji Guyan just now were probably more uncomfortable for him than being punched twice.

President Ji Guyan walked up to Lu Cheng, his expression becoming a bit more serious.

"Thank you for this time."

Lu Cheng looked up: "Thank you for what?"

"If it weren't for you, the Shengwu Society wouldn't have been able to obtain such a high-level endorsement."

"An S-rank endorsement is very important for a society. With it, recruiting members, accepting missions, and exchanging resources will all be much smoother."

Lu Cheng waved his hand.

"You're too polite, I am the society consultant after all."

President Ji Guyan nodded slightly, then said:

"For the next few days, the society will first conduct internal training and mission grouping. You don't need to come every day; I will contact you if needed."

"Alright."

Lu Cheng checked the time.

From tossing around since the morning until now, the society's qualifications were settled, and it was time for him to go back to cultivate.

He was still a little short of triple blood energy compression. Lu Cheng was increasingly looking forward to breaking through the realm. He had also looked up a lot of information these past few days; compressing to double was the limit for most people...

If one could reach the Extreme Realm of body tempering and compress to three times, then step into the Source Gathering Realm, the combat power would be several times stronger, not just a simple difference of multiplying by two or three...

Every subsequent advancement's difference is multiplying by two or three; after five times, the gap is two hundred times...

This is the importance of a foundation...

Lu Cheng greeted the others in the Shengwu Society.

"Then I'm heading off."

President Ji Guyan nodded.

"Contact me on the terminal if anything comes up."

Lu Cheng said goodbye to the society, and not long after walking out of the training hall, his terminal suddenly vibrated.

He looked down.

Shen Guhong.

The message was very simple.

[Are you free? Come over to my place.]

Lu Cheng's footsteps paused.

Shen Guhong was looking for him?

Could it be to customize a cultivation plan for him?

But wasn't the selection training only supposed to officially start next Monday?

Lu Cheng thought for a moment and replied with two characters.

[Free.]

Shen Guhong quickly sent a location.

The place was a small building in the instructor area near the mountain.

Lu Cheng followed the navigation.

The instructor area was much quieter than the student area. The roadsides were all low-rise buildings, without too many flashy decorations on the outside, only the faint flowing light of energy barriers.

Shen Guhong's small building was at the very back of the instructor area.

The courtyard gate was not closed.

Just as Lu Cheng arrived at the door, he smelled a faint fragrance of wine.

He poked his head in to take a look.

Shen Guhong was sitting in the courtyard, the black silk ribbon still tied over his eyes, his white clothes loose, the whole person leaning lazily against the back of the chair.

In front of him was a wooden table with two cups, a pot of wine, and a few small dishes on it.

Lu Cheng was stunned for a moment.

"Teacher?"

Shen Guhong tilted his head slightly, as if he had known he was coming for a long time.

"You're here, sit."

Lu Cheng walked over and sat down opposite him.

Shen Guhong reached out and picked up the wine pot; his movements were not fast, but very steady. The wine fell into the cup, exactly seven-tenths full, without spilling a drop.

Lu Cheng was a bit surprised to see this.

Even though he couldn't see, this action was more accurate than a normal person's.

Shen Guhong pushed the cup toward him.

"Do you know how to drink?"

Lu Cheng nodded.

"I've had some."

"Then have some."

Lu Cheng picked up the cup and sniffed it; the wine aroma was very clear, but it had a hot kick when it went down his throat, spreading all the way from his chest, and his blood energy even followed, slightly enlivened.

A martial artist's physique is strong; it's hard to get drunk on ordinary wine.

This wine was clearly not an ordinary thing.

Lu Cheng took a sip, his eyes lighting up slightly.

"Good wine."

Shen Guhong smiled.

"Brewed inside the academy, you can't buy it outside."

Lu Cheng immediately took another sip.

Shen Guhong listened to the sound of his cup landing on the table and asked casually:

"The society qualification test today, you fought pretty fast?"

Lu Cheng picked up a piece of meat.

"It was okay, there weren't many monsters inside."

The corners of Shen Guhong's mouth twitched.

"The Society Management Office has already sent the recording to quite a few instructors."

Lu Cheng's movements stopped.

"Huh?"

Shen Guhong said slowly:

"Clearing the gray domain in twenty-five minutes, and having a Meridian Opening Realm peak leader projection beaten to pieces by your few punches; this kind of recording is very suitable for stimulating other students."

Lu Cheng was silent for two seconds.

"Teacher, can I collect royalties?"

Shen Guhong laughed out loud.

"What on earth is in your head all day long?"

"I'm poor."

Lu Cheng said righteously.

Shen Guhong poured himself a glass of wine and took a sip.

"How much have you compressed your blood energy to now?"

Lu Cheng thought about it and didn't intend to hide it.

"Almost at three times."

Shen Guhong's hand holding the cup paused slightly.

Although the black silk covered his eyes, Lu Cheng still felt that the aura on the other person went quiet for a moment.

"Three times?"

"Yeah."

The courtyard was quiet for a few seconds.

Shen Guhong put down the wine glass and tapped the tabletop lightly with his fingertips.

"Breaking through at three times carries a high risk."

"When the source core prototype condenses, the blood energy is too heavy, and the body will be under great pressure. The subsequent benefits are indeed high, but the cultivation difficulty will also multiply upward."

He paused, his voice becoming flatter.

"Compressing blood energy to two times, the cultivation difficulty is about two."

"Three times, it's four."

"And every time you advance, this difficulty will continue to stack, so even for very talented students, we only recommend advancing at 2."

Oh, crap...

Lu Cheng really didn't know about this...

He didn't speak, but instead drank a mouthful of wine on his own...

Since he had already reached this step, there was no reason to give up...

Shen Guhong suddenly smiled.

The two of them drank wine like this, talking about scattered things.

From academy instructors to wasteland missions, from freshman points to forbidden zones in various places, and then from society competition to the Qin Family and the Ji Family.

Shen Guhong didn't arrange any training for him; calling him over today was really just to have some wine and chat casually.

Lu Cheng was a bit uncomfortable at first.

By the time they drank to the end, he had relaxed quite a bit.

This feeling was quite wonderful.

Shen Guhong usually didn't seem to have much of an air about him, but he still gave off a very mysterious feeling.

Sitting in the small courtyard drinking today, he actually seemed a bit more down-to-earth.

The sky gradually darkened.

The lights in the courtyard turned on automatically, and the warm yellow light fell on the wooden table.

Lu Cheng had just picked up a piece of roasted meat when his terminal suddenly vibrated urgently.

He looked down.

Lin Yifang.

Several messages popped up in succession.

[Brother Lu, something happened.]

[A member of the society was beaten into serious injury by someone.]

[They are now at the academy's medical center; the situation is very bad.]

Lu Cheng's eyes turned cold instantly.

The tipsiness dissipated in an instant.

He stood up and looked at Shen Guhong.

Shen Guhong sensed the change in his mood and said indifferently.

"Something happened?"

Lu Cheng nodded.

"A society member was beaten into serious injury."

Shen Guhong leaned against the back of the chair, picked up the wine glass, and his tone was very flat.

"Go."

Lu Cheng didn't ask any more questions and turned to leave.

The small courtyard became quiet again.

Shen Guhong looked at the half-glass of wine remaining on the table and shook it gently.

The wine liquid rippled in the cup.

He looked up in the direction where Lu Cheng left and smiled in a low voice.

"Good wine is accompanied by good people."

"A pretty good seedling..."