Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Diligent Progress

Fang Chen pondered for a moment before speaking. "If you have enough funds on hand, you can also consider buying some single-use offensive or defensive consumables to prepare for the second round of the martial exam."

"Huh? These?" A student looked at the pricey Enchantment Stones, Bursting Pills, and other items, hesitating. "Wouldn’t that be too extravagant? If we fail the martial exam and our cultivation doesn’t improve, all that money will just go down the drain..."

"It’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons," Fang Chen said. "I’m merely providing an idea. Think about it. If the martial exam were purely a test of current strength, heh, why wouldn’t they just admit students based on their cultivation realm? They could just enroll True Martial Realm cultivators first, followed by ordinary Martial Artists."

He shared his speculation.

"I have a guess. This martial exam might not solely test your personal talent and live performance. It’s also testing your family’s financial strength and... whether your family is willing to invest resources to support you.

"Personal strength is temporary and can be changed. But the channels and ability to acquire resources, to some extent, are a better determinant of how far a Martial Artist can go in the future.

"Of course, this is just my personal speculation and may not be accurate. It’s up to you to decide. If you don’t have enough money, I don’t recommend borrowing to buy these. The burden of debt will put too much pressure on you, making it hard to maintain a steady state of mind."

Having said his piece, Fang Chen said no more. He nodded at the group, then turned and left Jade Dew Hall.

The remaining students stood rooted to the spot, exchanging complex glances as they fell into an even deeper struggle of deliberation.

Back in his dorm room, Fang Chen sat cross-legged alone on his bed, his calm gaze landing on the longsword resting on the desk.

He looked at the weapon and began to meticulously construct the upcoming scene in his mind.

"The blade will first vibrate slightly, emitting a soft CHING, like the first cry of a dragon.

"The matte, dark gray metal at the crossguard will reflect a glint of cold, hard light.

"Then, a soft CLICK will echo from the sword scabbard. The blade will independently pop out about twenty centimeters, revealing the matte-finished, steel-colored spine that gleams with a practical cold light.

"Next, it will completely detach from the scabbard, hovering in mid-air for about half a second. The tip of the sword will smoothly turn toward my direction, stirring up a HISS of air friction.

"Finally, it will fly toward me at a steady, even speed, and the hilt will land precisely into my open palm."

He focused his mind, but the longsword on the desk remained motionless. It didn’t even stir up a breath of a breeze.

"I failed," he thought.

Fang Chen wasn’t discouraged; instead, he grew thoughtful. "My imagination still isn’t specific enough, or perhaps the parameters of a certain step are wrong."

He simulated it again, revising the imagery in his mind: "That soft cry shouldn’t be a CHING. It should be a crisper, shorter CLANG.

"The moment the blade pops out, the dust on the desk will be slightly shaken into the air.

"The flight speed should be thirty percent slower than what I just imagined, and the trajectory must be an absolute straight line, without any undulation."

"Come!"

He channeled his Telekinesis once more.

This time—

CLANG!

A crisp, brief sound of metal scraping rang out as the longsword obediently popped twenty centimeters out of the sword scabbard, bursting with a flash of cold light!

It hovered for a split second, then flew out of the scabbard with a SWISH. As if gripped by an invisible hand, the tip of the sword turned around and flew steadily and slowly toward Fang Chen on the bed.

He succeeded!

Like a tame swimming fish, the longsword hovered in the air as it made its way toward him.

A hint of joy bloomed in Fang Chen’s heart as he maintained the output of his Spiritual Power. "A little closer."

Just as the hilt was about to touch his fingers, his Spiritual Power suddenly snapped, like a stream running dry.

CLATTER.

Losing its support, the longsword dropped onto the wooden floor in front of the bed with a crisp thud.

"The process was right," Fang Chen thought as he picked up the longsword. Far from being disappointed, his eyes shone even brighter. "The more detailed my imagination is—constructing every detail, sound, distance, speed, and even lighting effects clearly—the higher the success rate.

"It’s just that the capacity and endurance of my Spiritual Power are still lacking. I need to keep improving."

He placed the longsword back on the desk and shifted his gaze to a raw egg nearby. He focused his attention, locking onto the white egg, and rapidly constructed the scene in his mind.

"The inside of the eggshell will bear an even pressure. Starting from the bottom, a crack finer than a strand of hair will appear, letting out a faint CRACK.

"Then, the cracks will instantly spread across the entire shell like a spiderweb. The yolk and egg whites will be squeezed out from the fissures by an invisible force, making a soft POP, before the whole thing lightly bursts open with a SNAP."

The moment the thought settled—

CRACK... POP... SNAP!

Without any warning, the egg on the desk synchronously completed the entire process he had imagined in his head. The shell shattered, and the egg liquid slowly spread across the desk.

"The success rate for this kind of small-scale, instantaneous command is already very high," Fang Chen thought, feeling deeply satisfied. Although it didn’t possess any lethality at the moment, it would absolutely become his trump card in the future.

What shocked him, however, was that even with his vastly enhanced Spiritual Power Perception, he couldn’t detect any anomalies at all! There were no energy ripples, no preliminary fluctuations—it was as if the rules themselves had been silently rewritten.

"There was no commotion at all. Without a single trace of flowing energy, the effect directly acts upon the item itself," he pondered. "This is Telekinesis. Everything that happens relies entirely on my imagination."

Right then, the noisy sounds of footsteps and chatter echoed from the hallway, drawing closer from a distance. Fang Chen knew his classmates had returned from their shopping.

He quickly grabbed the longsword from the desk, slid it back into its sword scabbard, and returned it to its proper place. Just as he settled on the edge of the bed, the dorm door was pushed open with a BANG. A large group of people flooded in, each bearing an excited or anxious expression, carrying packages of varying sizes in their hands.

"Boss Fang!"

"Boss Fang Chen, we’re back!"

Everyone greeted him at once in a flurry of voices.

Wang Pan waved a sealed jade box in his hand, speaking up first. "Boss Fang, we think what you said is highly likely! There might really be an unexpected twist in the second round of the martial exam, so we all bit the bullet and bought some single-use items."

The few people beside him also showed off their hauls. There were Enchanted Fire Stones flashing with unstable energy light, Vajra Talismans inscribed with complex runic lines, and some sealed potion bottles that clearly looked like items used to boost explosive power or speed for a short duration.

However, some looked embarrassed. A student named Sun Hao scratched his head and said sheepishly to Fang Chen, "Boss Fang, I... I decided to play it safe.

"I didn’t buy those consumables. I spent all my money on three Realm-Breaking Pills." He patted his backpack. "I plan to take them back to Jinchuan City and sell them. I have a younger brother at home, and my parents have already emptied their savings for my martial exam this time. I... I can’t bet everything on a test I might not even pass.

"I’ll just try it normally. If it works out, great. If not, I’ll sell these to recoup some losses, and when it’s my brother’s turn to apply for the Martial Arts Academy, we’ll have a little money for his registration fee..."

His voice grew quieter and quieter, carrying the heavy weight of reality and a trace of imperceptible shame, as if his conservative choice was a betrayal of Fang Chen’s advice.

Fang Chen looked at Sun Hao.

"This is a personal decision. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about." His tone was unruffled and understanding. "Everyone has their own circumstances and considerations. I merely offered a suggestion; ultimately, how you choose is your own business."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.