Chapter 355 Gathering
At the gathering of the Westerners, there were plenty of Westerners who had yellow skin and black eyes.
Wang Tiangang, who had gone into seclusion for over ten days, also took this rare opportunity to come out for a breather. Back then, he had wanted to fork out 500,000 gold to borrow Fang Xingjian’s Sacred Land, but he had been rejected. After seeing the Rebirth Sword Technique, he had went into seclusion for his training until now.
As a top expert in the Western region, his appearance at the gathering naturally attracted quite a lot of attention.
A Western youth walked over and said, “Young Master Wang, it’s been awhile. Have you been training in seclusion of late?”
“That’s right, Young Master Li. I happened to have some inspirations for my training.” Wang Tiangang smiled. Although this youth was still a Knight, he came from a family of wealthy merchants for five generations. They were so rich that their wealth could match that of a country. So, Wang Tiangang was very willing to maintain a good relationships with them.
Within a few short minutes, a few other people walked over. They were clearly from the same circle as Wang Tiangang. The others in the area looked upon them with envious gazes, placing Wang Tiangang and his circle at the center of attraction.
The youth who was addressed as Young Master Li took a sip of wine and said softly, “Have you guys read this morning’s newspaper?”
“Of course. Fang Xingjian has soared into fame. Lord Holy Orison is full of praises for him, and even His Majesty has also praised that the Rebirth Sword Technique is a revolutionary work. Many Knights have all changed to pick up sword arts instead.”
“Of course. With a gap of over ten times in the potential points, even the old guys at home are forcing me to change to pick up the Rebirth Sword Technique.”
“His fame has really spread across the world. This Fang Xingjian is only 17 years old… With this, it’s certain that his name will be written down in history.”
Wang Tiangang frowned slightly. His mood seemed to have changed for the worse.
Suddenly, Young Master Li turned to ask him, “Young Master Wang, you’re also an expert in sword arts. How is it? Are you going to cultivate the Rebirth Sword Technique?”
Wang Tiangang looked at his stats window with the level 1 Rebirth Sword Technique. He then smiled and said, “I’m considering. I still need to give it more thought. After all, the Rebirth Sword Technique will require one to take very long to learn.”
“It is a bit hard, but the efficiency is really high. Didn’t you guys hear? After Lord Holy Orison reached level 10 in this technique, he’s now able to get 8,000 potential points daily. I’m decided on learning it. In the future, those who don’t will all end up lagging behind.”
Just then, a commotion broke out amongst the crowd, and Wang Tiangang turned to look over. However, his frown deepened. Fang Xingjian and Zhou Xingwen had actually come together to attend the gathering for the Western Society.
A bit displeased, Wang Tiangang said, “Fang Xingjian didn’t join the Western Society, right? How is it that he’s able to attend?”
Young Master Li also spoke with a hint of jealousy, “He’s Mr. Popular now. Who would stop him? I heard that over 20 academies have successfully gotten the authorizations for the Rebirth Sword Technique at 10,000 gold yearly. This means that even if Fang Xingjian were to lie there and not move, he would get an income of over 20,000 gold every year. “
Hearing his words, everyone around them drew in a cold gasp, then they looked at Fang Xingjian with envious gazes.
Wang Tiangang’s lips could not help but twitch as he said, “He’s just lucky.”
The others chimed in a little bit when a youth suddenly said, “Hehe, I’m off to say hello.”
“I’ll go too.”
“Haha, I haven’t seen Young Master Zhou for quite a while. I’ll go over and have a look as well.”
When he saw the people around him leave one by one while everyone’s gazes turned from him to the upstart, Fang Xingjian, a great sense of disappointed plunged down on Wang Tiangang.
He threw a glance at Young Master Li who was beside him and said, “This group of people really just sail with the wind. What’s the point of gathering over there like that?”
Young Master Li was stunned for a moment before he said, “That’s true. There are too many people. I better wait till the event is over before I approach Fang Xingjian for a talk.”
He turned, only to discover that Wang Tiangang had already left.
“Young Master Wang? Why did you leave? You’re schoolmates, right? Can you help introduce me to Fang Xingjian?”
Wang Tiangang then turned back to say coldly, “We aren’t close.” As he walked out, he looked at Fang Xingjian, who was now the center of attention. He could not help but let out a sigh in his heart, ‘If only the Rebirth Sword Technique was created by me.’
When he thought about this, his walking speed sped up, ‘Isn’t it just creating a Nurturing sword technique? By announcing it now, he’s just letting others gain from it. After we become Royal Knights, I’ll still get a great lead over you.’
On Fang Xingjian’s side, he was surrounded by countless people chatting warmly with him.
“Xingjian, it’s been tough on you. I heard that the pressure this time was really great.”
“How did you create the Rebirth Sword Technique?”
“Xingjian, are there any tricks to learning the Rebirth Sword Technique? I can’t seem to be able to pick it up successfully.”
After exchanging a few words with the others, Zhou Xingwen led Fang Xingjian to a corner. However, they continued to attract the gazes of majority of the people around.
Zhou Xingwen introduced, “Young Master Wu, this is the great genius, Fang Xingjian. Xingjian, this is Young Master Wu. Half of the rice trade in the Great Western City is owned by his family.”
Fang Xingjian nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
Young Master Wu laughed and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, saying, “Xingjian, you’ve really earned a lot of credit for us Westerners. Our family has a martial arts school. Do you want to be a nominal teacher in our school?”
“I don’t have much time.”
“I know you’re busy. It’s just in name, and you’ll just have to take one day each year to teach a lesson. As for the salary, we’ll fix it at 5,000 gold a year. I’ll get someone to send it to you immediately.”
Fang Xingjian’s brows twitched. To teach only one lesson each year… The other party was clearly just giving money to him. Fang Xingjian had only agreed to attend this gathering because of Zhou Xingwen’s relentless persuasion attempts, saying that it was being held specially for him and that many people would be giving him money for free. However, he had not expected them to be so direct with it.
A few others young talents also joined in. Some of them asked for him to become a nominal teacher in their academies or martial arts school, while others asked him to join them in starting some businesses. Fang Xingjian went along to either agree or reject their requests with the help of Zhou Xingwen.
In just a mere half an hour, Fang Xingjian had already gotten himself 70,000 gold. He had also gained over ten additional titles. It was faster for him to get his hands on this money than if he were to rob someone.
“Oh, right. Xingjian, you have a bank account, right?” A youth asked.
Fang Xingjian looked at this chubby youth who looked like the Maitreya [1] and recalled Zhou Xingwen’s introduction. This was the son of the head of the Great Western City Bank, Song Wuji.
The Empire’s banks had been set up by the Second Prince two years ago. Unlike the stalls in small cities, these were national banks set up by the country. Although they covered only the major cities currently, their reputation and the working capital they had were not something which others could compete against. After the Second Prince put in two years of hard work, they had now become the first choice for major aristocrats to save their money with.
Seeing Fang Xingjian shake his head, Song Wuji smiled and said, “I’ll get someone to set up an account for you. Your income will be much more than ours, so how can you not set up an account? You don’t have to go there. I’ll get someone to come over here and help you set up an account right this instant. Later on, all of you can just send the money to his account.”
Just like that, with a single appearance, Fang Xingjian received 70,000 gold worth of investments, a bank account, and a series of titles. Two hours later, he left the gathering, leaving Zhou Xingwen behind to mingle with a radiant look on his face.
“Old Zhou, for you to be involved in the authorizations for the Rebirth Sword Technique… you’ve struck it rich now.”
“Young Master Wu, you’re exaggerating. I heard that your uncle is from the northern military base. I’ll need to trouble you when the time comes.
“And Young Master Li, your aunt is in Eastern Sand Region, right? I’ll be negotiating the royalties for the Rebirth Sword Technique with the Regional Academy there and will need your help too.”
As Fang Xingjian leisurely headed back to the school, his mind continued to practice sword arts. With the 70,000 gold from today and the 50,000 research fees from the Sword Tower, he already had 120,000 gold and could cultivate the first level of the mystical prints. Moreover, he would soon be receiving the money from the royalties for the Rebirth Sword Technique and the money from selling off half of Gao Tu’s corpse. It would probably be enough for Fang Xingjian to cultivate the second or even third level of the mystical prints.
This unparalleled technique which had been invented by his mother and was claimed to be able to increase the cultivation speed of Conferred Knights… Fang Xingjian had been anticipating it for a very long time.
However, thinking about the time he had left, Fang Xingjian felt very pressured.
It was now late August, and it had been close to two months since he first arrived at the Regional Academy. There were still ten months to the National Selection next year.
As for his lifespan, there were only three years and ten months remaining.
However, as he went on his way, a figure dashed out suddenly. It was Arbitrator Sally.
[1] Maitreya is regarded as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. The Budai, or Laughing Buddha, is often identified with or seen as an incarnation of Maitreya, so much so that the Budai image is one of the main forms in which Maitreya is depicted in China. In this case, the author was likely to have related Song Wuji to the chubby image Budai has.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maitreya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budai