Chapter 16

As the sun rose like a disk and the purple aura came from the east,

In the small courtyard early in the morning, Tang Zheng's sweat flowed and dried, dried and flowed, countless times.

Three days, in fact, was not a long time.

Layer upon layer of star waves surged, releasing strand after strand of new star power.

In the first two days, the star power formed within Tang Zheng's body had doubled, approaching thirty strands. Today was the third day, and if he could gather more than fifty strands of star power, he would have the confidence to try to shake the space in the purple-gold belt again.

"Throat Seal!" As Tang Zheng moved his steps, the star power continuously collided within his body, and the layers of star waves quickly stacked up...

From before dawn until now, two hours of continuous cultivation. If it were someone else, they might not have been able to endure it.

But for Tang Zheng, what was this?

In the past, in the game, to help the gold sponsors level up, he had been even more dedicated.

The gold sponsors could lie in the game pod and sleep, while he had to continuously fight monsters and level up. To be faster than other freelancers, while others worked ten hours a day, he had to work twenty hours!

The thirtieth strand of star power had already formed...

Just as the star waves subsided, Tang Zheng moved again: "Falling Spin Stab!"

Layer upon layer of star waves stacked up again, continuously impacting in the star meridians...

The thirty-first... the thirty-second...

In these two hours of cultivation, several new strands of star power had been generated.

After breakfast, the training ground would likely be open.

Although forming the first star wave and gathering the first strand of star power were difficult, Tang Zheng had spent several days on it, but once he had one, he had two, and once he had two, he had three. As his control over star power grew stronger, the subsequent cultivation became easier.

His feeling was like entering a new leveling area for the first time, where he needed to spend some time adapting, but after a long time in that leveling area, he knew the exact positions, times, and characteristics of each monster, and could fight them with his eyes closed, making the cultivation process much more efficient.

"It seems that if I put in a bit more effort today, gathering fifty strands of star power shouldn't be a problem!" Tang Zheng returned to his room, wiped his face casually, and loosened the soil around the Paper Intoxication Flower King, then went to eat breakfast.

Tang Zheng ate very quickly.

This was also a bad habit formed from his high-intensity career.

To save time, he averaged no more than five minutes per meal.

So, as long as he got up early, he would definitely be the first one to appear in the初级 training ground!

"The training ground... is indeed a pretty magical thing." Tang Zheng clearly felt that the speed of star power gathering in the training ground was at least 10% faster than in his small courtyard...

The strong star power communication ability of the purple-gold in his purple-gold belt was already quite powerful, but the初级 training ground, using just a few ounces of purple-gold, could increase the cultivation speed by 10%. This was probably the effect of the array formation.

Tang Zheng thought about getting some auxiliary cultivation equipment once he could take out the purple-gold.

"Um, I'll go to the Hundred Refinements Shop. This global chain brand should have good quality!"

...

The instructor for the初级 training ground today was not Meng Fenghua.

Tang Zheng and another instructor exchanged a few moves, with star power continuously flowing and washing, and the star waves stacking up layer by layer. By the morning, the number of star power strands formed had finally exceeded forty.

"Continue!" The afternoon cultivation went very smoothly. With the help of the purple-gold belt, his perception of star power was incredibly clear, and he smoothly stacked the star waves layer by layer, faster and faster, and the star power became purer and purer...

Forty-five...

Forty-six...

Forty-seven...

When the star waves surged past the fifty mark, Tang Zheng took a long breath, his chest heaving, already exhausted to the limit.

"Alright, can take a break." Tang Zheng didn't even have time to return to his courtyard, and sat down to rest right there in the training ground.

Seeing him sit down, a few teenagers from the intermediate training ground suddenly ran over, handing him handkerchiefs, wiping his sweat, massaging his back, and rubbing his shoulders.

Tang Zheng's soul almost flew away: "Comfortable, a martial artist's back massage is really comfortable! A little to the left, oh oh, right here, rub more..."

"Hehe, if Mr. Tang likes it..."

"Mr. Tang, you are both scholarly and martial, wise and brave, we admire you so much!"

Tang Zheng's eyes narrowed—these little brats, offering their services so obviously, it must be a trick!

But why not enjoy it? He nodded while listening: "Mm-hm, you're pretty and sweet."

"Thank you!"

"Then remember, say it twice every day from now on!"

"Damn..." The group of teenagers were directly stunned by his thick skin.

"Alright," Tang Zheng, feeling comfortable from the shoulder rubs, didn't care about their tricks, and asked with a smile, "What's up?"

The group of teenagers exchanged glances.

Then, one of the girls said slyly, "Actually... it's not a big deal, just... we have a question, and we want to ask Mr. Tang."

"Go ahead." Tang Zheng waved his hand.

"Um, the thing is, the teacher who taught us to read always kept us for at least a quarter of an hour after class, making us always have cold food for lunch. Mr. Tang, don't you think we are very pitiful?"

Tang Zheng smiled inwardly.

No wonder they came to him; they were the poor students in the class!

Now they were coming to him, wanting him not to keep them after class, right?

"What's so pitiful about that?" Tang Zheng pursed his lips and looked at them, "As students, you need to use your brains when faced with problems."

"Huh? How to use our brains?"

"Your teacher is also a person; he needs to eat, drink, and go to the bathroom. Why don't you ask him the same question repeatedly for two or three hours?"

"Uh..." The group's eyes widened.

"If you do this for a few days, if he still insists on keeping you for tutoring, then I'll admire him!" Tang Zheng, feeling comfortable from the shoulder rubs, stood up and pointed to his head, "So, use your brains, use your brains..."

After saying that, he left the training ground with the words, "Give me a shoulder rub again tomorrow."

The group of teenagers left behind were stunned for a while: "Is he... really a scholar?"

"Uncle has already said he will keep him, so whether he is a real teacher or not, as long as he is not from the Azure Blue Manor and doesn't make us starve, he is a good teacher!"

"But, I have a feeling that our days will be even harder than before..."

"Why? Didn't he already show that he won't be like the previous teacher?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's a woman's intuition!"

...

Tang Zheng returned to his courtyard and tidied up a bit.

He just needed to take out the purple-gold from his belt, and he would set out for Wulong Town under the cover of night!

"Time really flies." Tang Zheng calculated the time; he had been on the Starlight Continent for almost half a month.

Tian Meng still had no news.

He didn't know if he had met Xiao Tanzhi or received his help.

"Alright, let's start." Tang Zheng sat on the bed and quickly perceived the space in the purple-gold belt. He carefully gathered the fifty strands of star power, slowly and steadily, like smoke, flowing into the space.

The entire space brightened again.

Because the belt contained purple-gold, the star power not only was not hindered but also became more lively and vibrant after entering, making the space brighter and more radiant than before.

The endless purple-gold bricks shone brilliantly under the starlight.

Tang Zheng controlled the star power to probe the corner of the space, the place he had collided with many times without any effect...

He suddenly gathered the fifty strands of star power and quickly shaped them into a cone, turning the wisps of smoke into a sharp weapon in his hand, fiercely rushing toward the corner of the space!

In Tang Zheng's perception, the space finally showed a slight tremor.

He dispersed, gathered, and collided again...

Tang Zheng found that using the star power in this way was extremely tiring, consuming dozens or even hundreds of times more energy than cultivation.

But since it had started to loosen, he had no reason to give up.

Continuous re-gathering and fierce collisions made Tang Zheng feel that the corner had developed fine cracks, and with a bit more effort, he could take out the purple-gold!

But just these dozen collisions had drenched him in sweat...

"Two more, just two more." Tang Zheng's perception was incredibly clear; he knew victory was just ahead.

However, his star power was starting to disperse, and he was losing control.

It was like a person who was extremely tired, knowing that the wall in front of him only needed a few more hits to break, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pick up the hammer on the ground!

"Ha, old buddy, don't play with me!" Tang Zheng suddenly gathered his strength, almost using the last bit of his energy, and gathered the star power to collide fiercely with the corner again...

And this was his limit.

"Am I going to fail again?" Tang Zheng wouldn't be too upset by failure, but since there had been hope, there was now a bit of disappointment.

Just as he was gradually letting go of his control over the star power, suddenly, a very ethereal, seemingly weak force entered his perception, and the star power he had lost control of began to gather again under the guidance of that force...

Tang Zheng turned his head and saw the jade pendant Tian Meng had given him as a token, emitting a light, ethereal glow, like a girl's soul dancing gracefully in the air.

Tang Zheng didn't think much about the jade pendant for the moment; he quickly seized this opportunity to complete another impact on the belt's space!

A faint light, like sunlight entering the room, finally entered this space.

A spatial passage!

Although it was only a small hole about the size of a thumb, Tang Zheng knew this was the spatial passage!

With the spatial passage, he could smoothly store and retrieve items!

Tang Zheng lay on the bed, not caring about the wet sheets, not rushing to store or retrieve items, but focusing his gaze on Tian Meng's jade pendant...

"Brother, you've helped me again!" Tang Zheng picked up the jade pendant and examined it carefully.

.