pjbooks Chapter 98 Taking on Apprentices
Chapter 98 Taking on Apprentices
After returning from the Jiangzhou branch, Jiang Chen stayed at home for three whole days.
For the past three days, he had barely left his room except to eat and use the restroom. His phone was on silent, he was offline from social media, and he didn't even bother to look at the tens of thousands of messages that had accumulated in the class group chat. The reporters outside the window had been completely cleared out by the people from the General Administration, and two Awakened individuals in plainclothes had appeared at the entrance of the residential area, posing as property security guards, but in reality, they were A-level guards personally arranged by Chu Tianxiong.
On the evening of the third day, Jiang Chen was lying in bed watching videos when there was a knock on the door.
"Brother Chen! It's me!" Wang Kai's voice came from outside the door, filled with barely suppressed excitement.
Jiang Chen yawned and shuffled to the door in his slippers. Wang Kai stood there, his school uniform stained with cement dust, and his fists wrapped in blood-soaked bandages, clearly having just run there from training in the abandoned factory area. Behind him was someone else—Shen Qingxue.
Shen Qingxue wasn't wearing her school uniform today; instead, she wore a plain white dress, her long silver hair cascading over her shoulders. The scar on her left arm, inflicted by a sniper rifle fired by the Dark Night Organization, had completely disappeared. She stood half a step behind Wang Kai, and when she saw Jiang Chen open the door, she nodded slightly as a greeting.
"Why are you here too?" Jiang Chen glanced at her.
"My dad sent me." Shen Qingxue's tone remained cool, but there was a hint of unease in her eyes. "He said that you might be making some big moves soon, and the Shen family wants to secure a position in advance."
"Reserving a spot?" Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow.
"It's... becoming an apprentice." Shen Qingxue bit her lip and finally said those two words. These three words, spoken by the eldest daughter of the Shen family, carried more weight than anyone could have imagined.
Jiang Chen leaned against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets, his expression unreadable. After a moment, he stepped aside to let the doorway open.
"Come in."
The three sat down in the living room. Jiang Xueqin was incredibly enthusiastic when she saw Shen Qingxue arrive, pouring tea, cutting fruit, and even peeking out from the kitchen to ask, "Miss Shen, what would you like to eat? Auntie will make it for you." Shen Qingxue sat upright on the sofa, holding a teacup in both hands, her ears slightly red, but she still tried her best to maintain a cool and dignified demeanor.
Wang Kai sat opposite her, completely oblivious to these details. His mind was preoccupied with cultivating immortality.
"Brother Chen, you said you'd teach me something new." Wang Kai placed his bandaged fist on his knee, his eyes shining brightly. "I recently practiced the spiritual energy penetration method you taught me, and I can already punch through two concrete slabs! No marks on the surface, completely shattered on the back! That '20-centimeter blind spot' you mentioned, I've filled it!"
Jiang Chen leaned back on the sofa and glanced at him: "How many days did you use it for?"
"Seven days! I started training the day you left, five hundred punches every day!"
"Five hundred punches will add twenty centimeters." Jiang Chen picked up his teacup and took a sip. "The speed is alright."
Wang Kai was stunned for a moment, then grinned. To be told "not bad" by Brother Chen was already a huge compliment.
Shen Qingxue watched this scene quietly from the side. She noticed a detail—when Jiang Chen spoke to Wang Kai, although his tone was still lazy, his eyes were much gentler than they had been in the Apostle Hall.
"Jiang Chen," Shen Qingxue put down her teacup and spoke, "The General Administration has issued an official statement saying that the cultivation system cannot be promoted to ordinary people for the time being. But Old Chen privately told my dad something—you said 'temporarily,' not 'forever.'"
Jiang Chen glanced at her but didn't say anything.
"My question is, is there a time limit to this 'temporary' period?"
Wang Kai also quieted down, staring intently at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen leaned back in the sofa and remained silent for a moment. The setting sun outside the window had just sunk below the rooftop, and the light in the living room changed from gold to a soft orange-red, shining on the steaming cup of tea on the coffee table, on Wang Kai's bandaged fist, and on Shen Qingxue's tightly clenched hands.
"This world has no spiritual energy," Jiang Chen finally spoke. "The essence of cultivation is to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to condense true essence. Without spiritual energy, everything is just a castle in the air."
Shen Qingxue's heart sank. But she didn't interrupt, because she realized Jiang Chen hadn't finished speaking.
"However," Jiang Chen put down his teacup, "the absence of spiritual energy generated by the Heavenly Dao does not mean that it cannot be replaced by other methods."
Wang Kai and Shen Qingxue both held their breath.
"In the cultivation world, there is something called a Spirit Gathering Array, which can gather the spiritual energy scattered throughout the world into one place, accelerating the cultivation speed. This world has no spiritual energy, so the Spirit Gathering Array is useless. But conversely—if I use my true essence as the array's core and operate the array in a reverse way, I can convert my true essence into 'artificial spiritual energy' that can be absorbed."
He picked up his teacup and took another sip, his tone as indifferent as if he were simply saying that the weather was nice today.
"The concentration of this artificial spiritual energy cannot compare to that of the cultivation world. However, within the range covered by the array, it is still possible to reach one percent of the lowest-level spiritual vein in the cultivation world."
"One percent?!" Wang Kai jumped up from the sofa. "One percent is enough! Enough for me!"
"Sit down," Jiang Chen said.
Wang Kai sat down immediately.
"One percent is just a conservative estimate," Jiang Chen continued. "The exact conversion rate depends on the materials of the array and my level of investment. If I use high-grade spirit stones to set up the array, I can increase the concentration to five percent. If I use the Apostle's Law Core as the array's core—"
He paused for a moment, then a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Maybe it can reach ten percent."
There was a full three seconds of silence in the living room. Then Wang Kai turned his head and looked at Shen Qingxue with an almost blank expression. Shen Qingxue's expression wasn't much better—her clear, cold eyes were wide open, her lips were slightly parted, and her hand holding the teacup was frozen in mid-air.
Ten percent of the spiritual veins in the cultivation world.
What does this mean? It means that within the range of Jiang Chen's formation, the cultivation speed can reach one-tenth of that in the cultivation world.
"However," Jiang Chen put down his teacup, his voice returning to its usual calm tone, "I cannot solve the problem of spiritual roots. Cultivation requires spiritual roots, which are innate, not something that can be cultivated. So far, in this world, I have only detected two people who possess spiritual roots."
"Who?" Shen Qingxue asked instinctively.
Jiang Chen glanced at Wang Kai.
Wang Kai pointed to himself, his mouth forming an "O" shape: "Me?"
"Your Five Elements Spiritual Roots, while not top-tier, should be able to reach the Nascent Soul stage with the support of the Spirit Gathering Array."
Wang Kai's expression shifted from shock to ecstasy, and then from ecstasy to an indescribable, almost devout seriousness. He stood up, walked to Jiang Chen, took a deep breath, and then bent over at a ninety-degree angle.
"Brother Chen. Master."
Just four words. No extra words, no lengthy thanks, no tearful confessions. But that ninety-degree bow, the slight tremor in his voice as he spoke those four words, and the fresh blood seeping from his bandaged fist said it all.
Jiang Chen looked at him, the curve of his lips slightly more pronounced than usual.
"Alright, enough of that. See you at the abandoned factory tomorrow morning at six."
Wang Kai straightened up and nodded vigorously. His eyes were a little red, but he held it in.
As Shen Qingxue watched this scene, she suddenly felt something surging in her chest. She came here at first because of her father's orders, and later because of her curiosity and gratitude towards Jiang Chen. But now, looking at Wang Kai's ninety-degree bow and the faint smile on Jiang Chen's lips, she suddenly realized something—this was no longer a mission, no longer about interests, and no longer about securing a position for the Shen family.
This is an opportunity.
An opportunity to change your destiny.
"Jiang Chen," Shen Qingxue stood up, "Can I take the test too?"
Jiang Chen glanced at her, put down his teacup, and brought his right index and middle fingers together, lightly touching Shen Qingxue's brow.
A tiny wisp of pale golden light flew from his fingertip and entered Shen Qingxue's brow.
Shen Qingxue closed her eyes, feeling the ray of light slowly flowing through her body. It passed through her meridians, through her dantian, and through her rapidly beating heart.
Then, the light dissipated.
Jiang Chen withdrew his finger, looked at Shen Qingxue, and remained silent for a moment.
Shen Qingxue opened her eyes. Jiang Chen's expression didn't change, but she understood the meaning behind his silence, and her heart sank.
"I have no spiritual root." Her voice was calmer than she had expected.
"No," Jiang Chen said. "Your talent is top-tier within the Awakened system. An S-rank ice-type talent, stronger than most people. But the path of cultivation isn't about talent; it's about essence. Awakened beings and cultivators are two completely different paths."
Shen Qingxue nodded. She picked up the glass of tea that had gone cold from the coffee table, took a small sip, and then gently placed the teacup back on the table.
"Do I still have a chance?" she asked.
Jiang Chen looked at her. He looked at the girl who had stood in front of him without hesitation during the Apostle's arrival in the capital, the girl who had shielded him from bullets during the assassination attempt by the Dark Night Organization, and the girl who had said, "As long as you stand there, there is hope for this world."
"Spiritual roots cannot be formed later in life. However," he paused, "there is a body cultivation school in the cultivation world. It does not rely on spiritual roots, nor does it cultivate true essence; it only tempers the physical body. Although its upper limit is not as high as that of orthodox cultivators, if it is cultivated to its peak, it can still shatter the void with its fist and tread on stars with its feet."
Shen Qingxue's eyes lit up.
"I'll learn," she said.
Just two words. Like Wang Kai, no extra words.
Jiang Chen nodded. Then he stood up and stretched.
"Starting tomorrow, the abandoned factory, the two of us will come together."
"Brother Chen!" Wang Kai suddenly remembered something, "You said you detected two people with spiritual roots. One is me, who's the other?"
Jiang Chen was about to walk to his room when he heard this and paused.
"Her," Jiang Chen said, "her spiritual root isn't in her dantian, but deep within her soul. It doesn't belong to the Five Elements, nor is it among any other spiritual root classifications I've ever seen. It's a very special spiritual root." He glanced at Shen Qingxue, "not an ordinary one."
Shen Qingxue was stunned for a moment. Then she looked down at her right hand, which had been frozen for many years but was now perfectly intact. She flexed and extended her fingers, and icy blue spiritual energy flowed through her fingertips, gentler and warmer than ever before.
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly.