Chapter 26

The difficulty of snatching a lollipop from a little girl...

If evaluated using the game mission rating from Tang Zheng's previous life, it would be at the "Heaven's Wrath and People's Indignation" level!

Therefore, Tang Zheng's attempt to snatch the lollipop from Yaomo not only failed, but also successfully made Little Lingdang refuse to call him Big Brother again.

Not only that, for several days in class, Little Lingdang wouldn't even give him a proper look.

"I can only try to buy some snacks and coax her next time we go to Wulong Town," Tang Zheng sighed helplessly as he packed up his books.

In the days since returning from Wulong Town, classes went smoothly. The young teenagers, who were in their awkward middle school years, still showed him respect as their teacher, and no unpleasant incidents occurred.

After the battle with the one-star martial artist, his star power cultivation advanced rapidly.

Within three days, his star power had already reached two hundred strands, and he estimated that he could summon a star constellation in the next couple of days!

In the season of spring warmth and blooming flowers, the peaceful and happy life finally allowed him to experience the halo of a穿越者 (穿越者 means "穿越者" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越者" in English, but it is more commonly understood as "time traveler" or "transmigrator" in the context of Chinese web novels. For this translation, I will use "transmigrator" to maintain the cultural context.).

"Yao yao, qie ke nao, brain-dead children have their own set of moves..." Tang Zheng hummed an unknown little tune as he returned to the courtyard and put down the "Chronicles of the Capital of the Financial Empire," which he had lectured up to Chapter Seven today.

Suddenly, his lips closed, and the joyful smile in his eyes disappeared.

"Hmph, who's been here?"

The door from the courtyard to the reception room had been opened.

The small door to the inner room had been pushed twice.

Although Tang Zheng had locked the inner room, the marks on the lock from the attempt to pry it open did not escape his notice.

Tang Zheng opened the inner room and narrowed his eyes as he looked around.

On the table in the inner room, there was a box of "Star Attraction Techniques" and the martial skill book "Mountain Splitting Axe." Under the pillow on the bed was Tian Meng's Jade Soul Pendant. In the drawer of the cabinet was an unknown pill, and most importantly, on the windowsill behind the screen was the "Flower King of Luxurious Debauchery."

There were no signs of anyone entering, and nothing was missing.

"Was there a thief?" Tang Zheng examined the silver lock repeatedly.

The character of the Tang Family Manor's disciples was such that if they needed something, they would directly ask him face-to-face and would never sneak in to pry open locks and steal things while he was in class.

Therefore, it must have been an outsider!

"What did he want?" Tang Zheng's gaze moved around the empty room.

The jade pendant? The pill? The martial skill book? Or... the "Flower King of Luxurious Debauchery"?

He had quite a few valuable items.

So, Tang Zheng couldn't immediately figure out which one was the target.

"I'll wait for you." He raised his eyebrows with a smile and decided to stay in his courtyard for the afternoon to continue cultivating his star power!

...

His familiar steps moved faster and faster, raising the star tide layer by layer.

The familiar waves crashed one after another, quickly gathering the strength within his body into star power.

The vast star breath in the purple-golden waist belt made him almost never encounter the unexpected situations mentioned in the "Star Pulse Flow."

In just an hour, the amount of star power he had formed was already very satisfactory...

"Two hundred and fifty strands. Hmm, today's cultivation is quite fast!" Tang Zheng wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Although he had been cultivating all along, his eyes and ears had never relaxed their attention to his surroundings.

Unfortunately, for the entire afternoon, his star power was almost about to break the three-hundred mark, but he didn't hear any signs of someone trying to approach his courtyard.

Instead, when the sun set, Meng Fenghua's voice sounded from outside.

Since he didn't go to the training ground in the afternoon as usual, Meng Fenghua decided to come over to check on him after finishing her class.

"It's nothing, nothing. I stayed in the courtyard this afternoon to catch a thief," Tang Zheng explained to Meng Fenghua, revealing the clues he had found after class.

"A thief? How is that possible?"

"There are metal fragments around the lock and shallow scratches on the lock body," Tang Zheng took the small lock and showed it to Meng Fenghua, "Look, here, these are the marks used to fix the lock body to make it easier to pry open."

Meng Fenghua took a deep breath and looked at Tang Zheng with a probing gaze.

To be honest, the few unusual marks Tang Zheng pointed out, she really didn't notice at first glance.

"Then... what valuable items do you have that the thief is after?" Meng Fenghua was puzzled, "Stealing from the Tang Family Manor, the goal must be significant, right?"

Tang Zheng asked her to wait a moment, then went into the inner room and brought out the unknown pill and the martial skill book.

"Hmm, the 'Mountain Splitting Axe' martial skill book..." Meng Fenghua sat down and flipped through it casually, "This is a martial skill that a one-star martial artist can start practicing. The Tang Family Manor has many better martial skill books, so it's probably not for this, right?"

"Oh? Then what kind of martial skill book is considered good?" Tang Zheng asked.

"Actually, what I said just now is not entirely correct, and your question is also not quite right," Meng Fenghua tapped the "Mountain Splitting Axe" book on the table, "If we talk about good and bad, the 'secret techniques' of clans and noble families are better than the widely circulated 'common techniques.' However... most secret techniques require at least three stars to start practicing, and they are developed specifically for the star constellations and star attraction methods of their own clans and noble families, so they may not be suitable for everyone."

In the Starlight Continent, everyone is born with a star constellation, and lighting up one star is a major standard that distinguishes true martial artists from ordinary people.

Because, once one star is lit, one can start practicing martial skills!

With martial skills, one truly possesses combat power.

Meng Fenghua only said a few words, but Tang Zheng quickly understood.

If he were to understand it in the way of his previous life, some people constantly pursue high-cooldown, high-damage advanced skills, while others constantly practice the proficiency of small skills that can be learned at level one. No matter which choice, each has its own combat style.

As for those top-tier ultimate skills, sometimes they can only be used once at the cost of depleting all one's energy. Although they are indeed very advanced, they definitely cannot be used as regular skills!

Therefore, choosing skill combinations based on one's attributes and stat distribution is the most important.

"The most suitable martial skill is the best martial skill." Meng Fenghua smiled after saying this, "Of course, if you choose to use a sword but insist on practicing the 'Mountain Splitting Axe,' it would definitely be a bad choice..."

Tang Zheng smiled.

He immediately remembered the system prompt he had received in the game before: "The required weapon for this skill does not exist."

"Since it's not the 'Mountain Splitting Axe,' it must be this, right?" Meng Fenghua carefully examined the small box containing the pill.

"This was a gift from the shop when I went to buy the ink. I don't know what it is, so I didn't dare to eat it," Tang Heng explained.

As soon as Meng Fenghua opened the box, a medicinal fragrance wafted out.

A deep brown pill lay quietly inside...

Meng Fenghua's eyes widened: "No wonder it was stolen! This is a 'Continuation Pill'!"

Tang Zheng leaned in to take a closer look: "Continuation Pill?"

"If you forcibly use star power, it may cause some damage to the star pulse, and the Continuation Pill can directly generate dozens of strands of star power to nourish the star pulse... Since it is exclusively supplied by the Heavenly Doctor Valley to the Western Border battlefield, it is not commonly found on the market."

"Directly generate dozens of strands of star power? If I absorb the power of the Continuation Pill..."

"That's right, you will be able to see your star constellation soon!"

...

Rub, rub, rub...

Tang Zheng, under the dim light, crushed the pill that could choke a person into small balls.

Although he was eager to see what his star constellation looked like, he was even more concerned about his safety.

Such a large pill, if swallowed in one bite, would definitely cause him to faint and possibly even die before he could summon his star constellation...

After finally crushing the large pill into small pellets, Tang Zheng found some warm water.

Eat, eat, eat...

After finally swallowing all of them, Tang Zheng sat quietly, staring blankly.

It seemed there was no reaction?

"The Treasure Pavilion is definitely a black market!" Tang Zheng couldn't wait any longer and stood up with a start.

Whoosh...

As soon as he stood up, he felt a violent surge of star power throughout his body. Then, the star tide within his body formed layers of huge waves, rising uncontrollably!

The intense impact almost made Tang Zheng cry out.

Rising... still rising...

Those were not the star tides of the internal forces, but star tides directly formed by star power!

"Damn!" Tang Zheng's legs gave out, and he fell to the ground.

Soon, the star tides seemed to split into two waves...

The wave on the left was a turbulent surge, rising like a high mountain, while the wave on the right was a continuous downward crash, like an endless, dark sea.

Tang Zheng got up from the ground, feeling the star power within his body slowly getting out of control...

Boom!

The star power suddenly scattered, shattering all the doors and windows.

The two huge waves, one above and one below, stirred violently, their crests constantly colliding. Tang Zheng's body felt like the surface of the sea where two hurricanes were colliding!

Tang Zheng suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, spraying it three meters away!

...