The appearance of the Hall of the Great Dao caused quite a stir in the city.
The Gu Family used their Hidden Mist Butterfly to drive away curious onlookers, but more people from outside the residential complex were already surging toward the area.
The complex’s security guards were at their wits’ end, summoning their Pet Beasts to keep the crowds outside the walls.
As the crowd grew, a law enforcent team on patrol nearby finally arrived. They managed to get the situation under control, preventing it from escalating further.
anwhile, videos of the event had already started circulating on short-video platforms. There was footage from inside the residential complex, as well as videos fild by Beastmasters outside.
Decades ago, new Cultivation Techniques were common, and each ti one appeared, it was recorded by the Hall of the Great Dao.
However, starting five years ago, the number of appearances by the Hall of the Great Dao in the country dropped into the hundreds. Spread across the entire nation, this ant that seeing one in any given year was a rare event.
An increasing number of experts and professors believed that the Beast Taming system had entered its fully developed stage. They argued that major breakthroughs were no longer possible, leaving only a path of minor, incrental innovations.
Mr. Gu sat in a small private room at the Yongfu Building, scrolling through short videos. He watched as the hazy Hall of the Great Dao materialized above his residential complex, casting a Dual-Colored Holy Light that pierced through walls and shone right into the Gu Family’s ho.
He watched it again and again, never tiring of the sight, absolutely beaming with joy.
The color of the Holy Light cast by the Hall of the Great Dao signified different tiers of innovation. A single color represented the most common type of minor innovation, while two to five colors indicated more creative ones.
Only a Six-Colored or Seven-Colored Holy Light signified a true breakthrough, one that possessed imnse potential for Evolution.
When a Cultivation Technique of that caliber was born, the Holy Light from the Hall of the Great Dao would be visible to the entire nation.
Ordinary people couldn’t even dream of achieving such a major innovation. In fact, a Six-Colored Holy Light hadn’t appeared in the past decade.
Even new Cultivation Techniques that produced a Five-Colored Holy Light were becoming rarer each year. Last year hit an all-ti low, with none appearing at all.
If this was the case for high-end Cultivation Techniques, the situation was even bleaker for low-level, minor innovations.
For the Gu Family to have produced a new, dual-colored Cultivation Technique was an incredible stroke of luck.
Mr. Gu was already daydreaming about his son mastering the Cultivation Technique, writing a paper on it for a scientific journal, and earning bonus points on his college entrance exams.
An ordinary paper on a Cultivation Technique would have a hard ti getting published. After all, without a big na or a renowned ntor attached, reviewers would barely give it a second glance.
But having it recorded by the Hall of the Great Dao was a different story. That was a guaranteed ticket for publication in at least a low-tier journal.
The more colors in the Holy Light, the higher the chances of being noticed by a High-Level journal.
Of course, all of this depended on his son learning how to write and submit a research paper.
Beside him, Mrs. Gu was deep in conversation with the gym teacher, Zhang Yunpeng. They had been talking for over half an hour, discussing everything from the Gu Family’s circumstances to the details of Teacher Zhang’s Cultivation Technique.
"I’m so sorry, Teacher Zhang. Our family has done you a disservice. The credit for creating this technique should have gone to your Zhang Family."
After hearing the full story, Mrs. Gu thought for a mont, then took out a large red envelope and handed it to him.
A new Cultivation Technique like this would be worth several million on the market, at the very least.
"This is..."
Teacher Zhang took the envelope and glanced inside. His expression faltered for a mont—it was a check.
"It’s just a small token of our appreciation. Ten million. What do you think?"
"Where did you get this money? Didn’t you gamble it all away?"
"Ah, well, you see, we..."
Another ten minutes of conversation passed.
Zhang Yunpeng felt like he was on a roller coaster, his emotions lurching up and down.
It turned out he had been worrying for nothing. He hadn’t expected the Gu Family to be a middle-class family, not the struggling, lower-class household he had imagined.
’Still, after handing over this much money, they probably don’t have much left,’ he thought.
Don’t be fooled by how comfortable a middle-class life might seem.
That comfort only exists if you’re "lying flat"—opting out of the relentless rat race.
If they were aiming to get their son into a top-tier university, even a middle-class family would have to take out loans.
Things weren’t like they used to be. With inflation driving up the cost of everything, the pressures of modern life—housing, education, and healthcare—were a hundred tis heavier than in the past.
As soone on the front lines of the education system, Zhang Yunpeng knew that for a family with the Gu Family’s ans, giving away this much money could easily throw them into financial hardship.
"You should keep this money. Use it for your son. Gu Ming needs it," he said, trying to refuse.
Teacher Zhang tried to hand the envelope back, but Mrs. Gu shook her head, firmly keeping his hand from returning it.
"Teacher Zhang, if you wouldn’t mind, we’d like to hire you to create a customized training plan for Gu Ming. At the sa ti, we want to buy the official title of ’Original Creator’ of the Cultivation Technique from you.
"Ten million is a fair market price for that. You don’t need to worry about us, we have other savings. Besides," she added, "your daughter needs money, too."
It was true; the Zhang Family needed money. Zhang Yunpeng couldn’t pay the bills with good intentions alone. He had to accept paynt when it was due.
Since she was so insistent, he finally accepted.
"Rest assured, from now until the college entrance exams, I will personally oversee Gu Ming’s customized training plan," Zhang Yunpeng promised.
Before, he would never have dared to accept such a high fee. But now, having created a dual-colored Cultivation Technique, he felt confident enough to make such a promise.
Mrs. Gu smiled at his words, though her expression was tinged with the pain of parting with so much money.
They had returned the Iron Gall Lone Dragon, so the family still had several million left in their account.
As for that bottle of Spirit dicine for expanding one’s Sea of Spiritual Consciousness, they could sell it secondhand to recoup so of the cost.
However, now that she had laid her cards on the table, she quickly learned from Teacher Zhang that the Spirit dicine had already been sold. The money was currently deposited in Teacher Zhang’s bank account.
"Since Gu Ming entrusted it to you, it’s fine for you to hold onto it," Mrs. Gu said.
Mrs. Gu wasn’t worried about whether it was appropriate to leave the money with him. Since they had decided to hire him as a private tutor, they would trust him completely.
After doing the math, Mr. and Mrs. Gu realized they only had a few million left in savings for their own use. The other few million were earmarked for their son.
This ant they had to plan even more carefully. Every single penny had to be spent where it would count the most.
The three of them discussed the matter for a long ti, not finishing until three o’clock that afternoon.
They ultimately decided not to reveal the Gu Family’s true financial situation to Gu Ming for the ti being, so as not to disrupt his focus.
Gu Ming was currently in the perfect mindset for a final push, and suddenly changing his perception of his family’s finances was not the safest option.
With Teacher Zhang acting as an interdiary, the couple now had more options.
They could give Gu Ming things through Teacher Zhang that would be awkward to give him directly.
...
Cyan Pine: 162/500
Gu Ming erged from his dream and spent the rest of the afternoon in Cultivation.
He still hadn’t reached the Entry Level with his Cyan Pine Skill. In the real world, it took a trendous amount of effort just to complete two Circulations.
Cyan Treasure, on the other hand, was doing much better.
The Breathing Technique didn’t consu as much Spiritual Power. After ten days in the dream, its Skill Level had reached 1500. It was halfway to the Entry Level—oh, wait, no, the Master Level.
He’d been so engrossed in his training that he’d gotten confused. The system’s progress bar showed the Skill Level required to reach the next rank.
Teacher Zhang had thought Cyan Treasure was still Uninitiated, and Gu Ming had been misled at the ti as well.
In reality, Cyan Treasure had been capable of helping him create the Branded Visualization Image as soon as it had finished naming the Cultivation Technique.
Gu Ming looked at the Little Cyan Snake in the cultivation basin. Cyan Treasure was hugging a Spirit Stone, practicing the Entry Level Breathing Technique for the whole afternoon.
And just like that, the remaining forty Circulations were completed.
One hundred Circulations, complete!
Cyan Treasure’s body showed no obvious changes, but the Mana fluctuations radiating from it were already approaching the level of a One-star Pet Beast.
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