CHAPTER 98: SHARP AURA, STAR AURA!

"Whether it's too early or not is up to you to decide!" Gao Qingyu scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

"Instead of bickering with me, you should be thinking about how to convince your wife not to leave you!" Huang Yifan harrumphed, then flew out the window.

Gao Qingyu appeared unbothered by his snide parting remark, and he also turned to leave.

He really was in a hurry to go back home and speak to his wife. He knew her fiery temper better than anyone, and he was struggling to think of a way to come back from this.

However, before he could leave, Fang Che asked, "Have you found the branch helm of the One Heart Church, Dean Gao?"

Gao Qingyu immediately turned around upon hearing this.

"You know where it is?"

"Will I get merit points for giving the location?"

"Of course!"

"It's under the thirty-fifth courtyard on Sunflower Street," Fang Che said. "I overheard it yesterday."

Gao Qingyu took a meaningful glance at him, then immediately departed to make arrangements to storm the branch helm.

With that, Fang Che received another 420 merit points, taking his total to 4,900, of which 4,500 could be used.

After clearing out the branch helm, Gao Qingyu was finally able to return home to face the wrath of his wife.

Fang Che stayed with Old Man Shen to rest a little, then commenced his morning session of cultivation in the spirit qi gravity cultivation chambers.

***

Before long, Dongfang Sansan had also received a report of the recently concluded operation, and he didn't appear all that surprised by the outcome.

In response to the report, he quickly sent out an order: "Warn Moon Shadow to be on her guard at all times. Her role by Fang Che's side is extremely important, so she must not allow any complacency to set in."

Dongfang Sansan took a sip of tea as he fell into deep thought.

He's still too young and rash. At the moment, he's still just a low-ranking member of the One Heart Church, so everything's fine, but if he continues like this as he climbs up the ranks, he's going to find himself in more and more danger. I have to find some way to warn him. Otherwise, if he's caught, that would be the end of him and a massive loss for us. How can I help him earn the trust of the One Heart Church? Ideally, he would have a backer in the main church. At the moment, Yin Shengong will suffice as his main backer, but that's definitely not going to be enough in the future...

All of a sudden, a thought occurred to him, and he immediately set down his teacup as he began searching through his files.

We can use the conflict between the deputy popes of the Church of the Self-Righteous to our advantage! It may not be immediately useful, but I have to review their files so that I can make use of them anytime, should the opportunity arise. Let's start off with Bei Mingxin... He's the seventh-in-line deputy pope of the main church and Ren Zhongyuan's primary backer. How much power does he wield?

Dongfang Sansan's mind was racing, and countless bits and pieces of information were flying through his mind before being assembled into a picture that was conceivable only to him.

The components of the picture would then be disassembled before being reassembled in different configurations as he considered his options from multiple different angles.

Xue Fuxiao was standing outside the door.

He had come here to chat with Dongfang Sansan and encourage the latter to take a break from his duties, but as soon as he arrived, he sensed Dongfang Sansan's spirit sense sweeping and churning through the room like an almighty army on the march.

He could only heave an internal sigh as he waited outside.

Dongfang Sansan had been thinking in this fashion for countless years, and Xue Fuxiao couldn't even begin to conceive how mentally exhausting that had to be.

***

Fang Che emerged from the spirit qi gravity cultivation chamber with a radiant glow in his eyes, having just reached the fourth-rank Great Grandmaster tier.

The fifth rank was a hurdle that he would have to make some preparations for.

Hence, he took advantage of this brief window of relaxation to visit Old Man Shen again.

Old Man Shen was rather amused by the sight of the jars of wine in Fang Che's hand, and he chuckled, "I thought you would've come here to choose some cultivation arts right away, but you're more patient than I expected."

"I have to figure out what I want first. That's why I've come here to consult you, Elder Shen."

"You think two jars of wine is going to get the job done? This is a pathetic bribe!" Old Man Shen scoffed.

"These are a gift to you, not compensation for your help," Fang Che said with a smile.

"Then what's my compensation going to be?"

"Nothing!" Fang Che declared with a smile. "If I really did try to compensate you for something like this, I bet you'd never allow me to set foot in this place again!"

Old Man Shen burst into laughter upon hearing this. "You got that right!"

While he was now just a disabled old man, it would be an insult to him if others thought that his help could be bought with a few jars of wine or a few taels of silver.

Fang Che knew that there was no one more familiar with the scripture library than Old Man Shen, so he was the best person to ask for help in choosing cultivation arts.

He was indeed a disabled old man, but it was exactly due to his disability that he had become so knowledgeable, seeing as he was forced to spend all his time in this scripture library.

Perhaps he wasn't the most knowledgeable person in the entire academy, but he was definitely the one most familiar with the contents of the academy's scripture library.

"What do you want to train?" Old Man Shen asked.

"The spear, the sword, and the halberd," Fang Che replied.

"Isn't your master renowned for his saber techniques?" Old Man Shen asked in a surprised manner.

"That's correct."

"You do know what they say about biting off more than you can chew, right?" Old Man Shen said in a disapproving manner.

"I'm only going to choose one of the four as my primary weapon, but I have to also cultivate the other three to understand how much power they can unleash after aura manifestation. You know what I'm saying, right?"

"That's going to take up a lot of time that could be used on training your primary weapon."

"Don't worry, Elder Shen, I'm a prodigy!"

"You're a fool! I suggest you consider this matter carefully before you make your final decision."

"I've already made up my mind," Fang Che declared in a serious manner.

"Fine, come with me then," Old Man Shen sighed. "I'm only going to be giving you suggestions and explanations, but I won't make any choices for you. You have to make all of the choices on your own, understood?"

"Understood!" Fang Che replied as he extended a deep bow of gratitude.

Old Man Shen led Fang Che into the scripture library, then pressed a button, and the doors of the library swung shut before locking itself behind them.

Normally, this wouldn't happen for someone entering the scripture library to select aura manifestation cultivation arts, but this treatment was afforded to prodigies who wanted to cultivate multiple trump cards in order to ensure absolute secrecy.

Generally speaking, not many people visited the scripture library, but there was always the chance that someone could come in at an inopportune time, in which case the secret could be exposed.

This was also why Fang Che had come after his afternoon lessons.

The scripture library was closed at night and was accessible only to those selecting aura manifestation cultivation arts.

With the doors locked, Old Man Shen led Fang Che into the building and up the winding staircase all the way to the top floor.

There was only a single room on this floor, and it was surrounded by shelves that were laden with jade slips.

"Even the best aura manifestation cultivation arts in the academy only go up to the Overlord tier. If you want cultivation arts of a higher caliber, then you'll have to secure them yourself in the future outside of the academy."

Fang Che nodded in response.

"The saber, spear, sword, and halberd cultivation arts are all on that shelf. There are four types for the sword, namely mountain aura, water aura, fire aura, and sharp aura."

"I'll take sharp aura!" Fang Che decided without any hesitation.

"You're not going to think about it a bit more?" Old Man Shen asked in a surprised manner.

Fang Che shook his head in response.

"There are three subcategories of sharp aura sword arts, namely sun, moon, and star, each of which contains anywhere from two to five cultivation arts. You'll only be able to choose a single one."

Fang Che was aware of this. All aura manifestation cultivation arts were divided into sun, moon, and star categories.

"I choose star aura," Fang Che decided, once again without any hesitation.

"I advise you to reconsider," Old Man Shen said. "Star aura cultivation arts are very difficult to master, making them inferior to their sun and moon aura cultivation arts, at least in the early phase and the mid phase."

"But they're superior when cultivated to the late phase."

"That's true, but how many people throughout history have been able to reach the late phase in a star aura cultivation art? On top of that, there are only early phase aura manifestation cultivation arts here, so you won't find any mid phase ones here. It'll be up to you to find the rest."

"I still want to choose star aura."