Chapter 50

Listen! Spirit Talisman! Spirit Piece! Component!

Du Qian's mind began to work at the speed of a differential machine. He had heard the term "component" many times; it was a generic term for a part of an industrial product. ●⌒

However, the waiter must have said "spirit piece" rather than "component." This was thanks to Du Qian's superhuman hearing; the sounds were almost identical, and it would be impossible for an ordinary person to distinguish them.

Fortunately, after two days of blindness due to swollen eyes, Du Qian had developed his hearing.

Spirit Talisman? Spirit Piece!

In an instant, Du Qian's body began to tremble slightly at high speed, as if an orgasm were approaching. A wave of thought flashed from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

Could the term "component" have been derived from "spirit piece"?

This wasn't important, just a word. But the information conveyed by "spirit piece" in Du Qian's mind became extremely significant. Combined with his previous use of a spirit talisman, this thought was unshakable.

Could the thing he had spent over ten days making be something from a spirit talisman? It seemed unlikely.

Knowledge about spirit talismans was only briefly mentioned in school, with no detailed explanation, and it wasn't on the exams. Du Qian, who wanted to become a martial cultivator, naturally wouldn't spend time on such lofty and impractical matters.

This thought circled in his mind a few times before he set it aside. Whether or not it was related to spirit talismans wasn't something he could worry about now. Most importantly, Du Qian didn't think he could have anything to do with such high-level things as spirit talismans.

A moment later, the fat manager returned and spoke a few words to the waitress. The waitress enthusiastically helped Du Qian complete the procedures, transferring ten yuan to his identity card.

Taking the identity card, Du Qian flicked it. Ten yuan wasn't much, but the prospect of countless tens of yuan floating before his eyes was very tempting.

Fortunately, in addition to the ten yuan, there was also a spirit storage box for the spirit piece, which was even more valuable. The association hadn't taken advantage of him.

Returning to the Flying Tiger Team, Du Qian ate, lay down on the small bed in the rest room, and took a brief nap. When the time came, he jumped up. Du Qian couldn't remember the last time he had slept like that. It turned out that the feeling of sleeping was quite ordinary, and the recovery of physical strength and mental state wasn't as good as cultivation.

When the time came, he tested, recorded, and began absorbing the spirit horn. Du Qian had done this routine many times. Each time, two-digit numbers would float through his mind, calculating how much his combat power had increased. The feeling of seeing progress every day and gradually approaching the level of a martial cultivator was intoxicating.

Perhaps no one knew that in everyone's eyes, Du Qian, the first idle person in the Flying Tiger Team, was actually so busy that he didn't even have time to sleep, completely replacing sleep with cultivation. He was truly the busiest person.

After the absorption was complete, the spirit energy in his body had fully recovered under the influence of the spirit pressure, and his combat power had once again reached its peak.

Sitting cross-legged on the desk, his eyes vacant and unfocused, the energy threads converted from his combat power slowly separated under Du Qian's control. Combat power twelve, length forty meters, diameter 0.1 centimeters, and the thickness had to be uniform.

Even though Du Qian had successfully separated four hundred threads over the past ten days, he still had to be cautious when he started again. Separating energy threads wasn't something to be afraid of breaking, as the combat power was his own, and the spirit energy was within his body. It was just a matter of converting energy and changing its shape, with no loss.

However, this required great control and extreme attention to detail. To be honest, Du Qian really didn't want to do it. If it weren't for the countless ten-yuan bills floating before his eyes, he would have quit long ago.

It took ten minutes to convert and extract one standard energy thread. Du Qian sighed with relief, glanced at the time, and then at the records that only he could understand, which looked like scribbles. He was one minute ahead of schedule.

This conversion and separation of energy threads wasn't difficult at all; it was a matter of practice. To do it well and quickly, one had to keep practicing, and after thousands or tens of thousands of attempts, it would be impossible not to become proficient.

Continue, for a better tomorrow, for ten yuan.

Again, he returned to a state of mental numbness, not noticing the light knock on the door as someone entered. The person was petite, none other than his junior, Yao Jing.

Brother Du had been in the Flying Tiger Team for ten days. Occasionally, they would meet in the cafeteria, exchange a few words, and then go about their business. Yao Jing was a second-line member of the Flying Tiger Team, having joined too recently to be a first-line member, even with her high combat power, which still required rigorous training.

Despite her combat power of over 200,000 and the surprising speed at which it increased, she had many obvious weaknesses. To become a pillar of the Flying Tiger Team and join the first-line team, she still had a long way to go.

The Flying Tiger Team had ten sub-teams in total, with five at headquarters, including two main teams, two second-line teams, and one reserve team. The other five sub-teams, with similar strength to the second-line teams, were stationed in the five district bureaus of Pingchuan City.

When problems arose in the districts, the local sub-teams would handle them. If support was needed, the main and second-line teams at headquarters would be dispatched. If there were no major issues, the members at headquarters had a much easier time than those stationed in the districts.

However, things were not peaceful recently. Many unfamiliar faces had appeared in Pingchuan City, and with the previous assassination attempt, the city appeared calm on the surface, but the work of the Flying Tiger Team had increased several times over.

As a second-line member, Yao Jing had to go on duty one to three times a day, and the rest of the time was spent receiving training, keeping her very busy, not much different from Du Qian.

Today, she had just returned from duty and had an hour of free rest. Even though the Flying Tiger Team members were martial cultivators, they were still human, and their bodies could take it, but their minds couldn't. Therefore, they were given regular free rest periods, which, though not long, were necessary for relaxation and mental adjustment.

Seeing Du Qian sitting on the desk, eyes vacant, with messy paper and pens on the table, Yao Jing's heart trembled. As a fellow war orphan, she understood Du Qian's thoughts the most. He seemed to be doing well in the Flying Tiger Team, but it meant he had lost his future.

If it were her, what would she do? Yao Jing immediately dismissed this thought. She was completely different, with over 200,000 combat power and exceptional martial cultivation talent, so she wouldn't end up like her senior brother.

Senior Brother Du Qian was just an ordinary person. He might be smart and have a decent IQ, but his emotional intelligence was too low, his foundation too weak, and his base too poor. If he left the Flying Tiger Team, he would only have a harder time than here.

Senior Brother, you must pull yourself together. With such good conditions, whether you continue to study or have other plans, you must make use of your time and the existing conditions. You already have a better foundation than most of your classmates, so don't give up.

Yao Jing felt that coming to see him was the right thing to do. She needed to have a good talk with him.

Taking firm steps, her feet naturally became a bit heavier. Du Qian, still immersed in the separation of energy threads, immediately woke up, his mind trembling, and the second energy thread was wasted.

Seeing Yao Jing, Du Qian wasn't angry. This junior sister, though not exceptionally beautiful, was small and cute, making her endearing. This tiny body, however, possessed the combat power of a tyrannosaurus. What a strange joke fate had played.

"Xiao Jing, are you free now?" In ten days, they hadn't met often, but their relationship had clearly warmed up, and they no longer needed to call each other by formal titles.

"Um, I have an hour of rest. Brother Qian, we need to talk."

"Talk? Sure, let's talk. It's great, I have something to ask you too."

"What is it?"

"Besides going on duty, do you train the rest of the time?" Seeing Yao Jing, Du Qian's thoughts became more active. He wasn't a martial cultivator and hadn't received formal training, so he was more of an amateur. Yao Jing wasn't much better, but she had received professional training after joining the Flying Tiger Team, so she had more knowledge in this area, making her the right person to ask.

"Yes." Yao Jing's personality was such that she wanted to have a serious talk with Du Qian, but since he had something to say, she let him speak first.

"What do you train? How do you train?" Du Qian asked, but with his limited knowledge and incomplete knowledge system, he had a head full of questions and didn't know how to ask them.

"Mainly to increase combat power. There are many training methods. Currently, I am focusing on gathering combat power, consuming it, and then restoring it under the influence of spirit pressure. This process itself is a form of training. Each time I consume and replenish, my combat power increases slightly, but it mainly depends on oneself." Yao Jing thought as she spoke.

She was like Du Qian; even after ten days of training, she wasn't much stronger. She had a lot on her mind but couldn't express it.

"Just increasing combat power?" Du Qian tilted his head and asked. Increasing combat power was important, but his method was different. If he trained like Yao Jing, he might never become a martial cultivator.

His current method was better, but it was expensive, costing him hundreds of yuan a day. Du Qian knew that his absorption of spirit horns was quite strange, and he didn't dare to tell anyone.

When he advanced to the level of a combat master, it would be fine. Combat masters could form a power furnace in their bodies to absorb spirit horns.

He had thought about it many times, but he couldn't imagine what a combat master looked like or if it was the same as his method of absorbing spirit horns.

If it were the same...

That would be even more troublesome. Others could only absorb spirit horns after becoming combat masters and forming a power furnace. He wasn't even a martial cultivator, and his spirit pool hadn't even opened, yet he could absorb spirit horns like a combat master. It would be strange if it didn't cause a sensation.

If he had a glorious family background and powerful influence, the more sensational, the better. But he was just a war orphan, and if he caused such a notable event, everyone would come to snatch him away.

The empire didn't have a tradition of dissecting people for research, but it would be necessary to study him. Those who wanted to get him would come in droves, pulling and tugging, and before the research even began, his small body might be torn apart.

It was better to be honest and slowly work his way up. When he became a combat master, he wouldn't have to worry about such things anymore.