Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Shen Wang sold a charm.

Though it was just one, adhering to the principle that even a mosquito's leg is meat, he professionally informed the buyer of how to use it: "Burn it to ash, mix it with water, and have them drink it. The less ash to water ratio, the stronger the effect."

Jian Yiqiu skeptically held the charm, then bit the bullet, "It's just ash after all. Even if it doesn't work, it can still gross them out."

Seeing her spirits lifted and no longer in despair, Shen Wang lowered his head and resumed his game, "I refuse to believe I can't win even once!"

After a few rounds, someone rushed in hurriedly. Seeing Jian Yiqiu lying in the hospital bed, her eyes immediately reddened, "Qiuqiu! You little troublemaker!"

The moment Jian Yiqiu saw her mother, the tears she had been holding back became uncontrollable. She threw herself into her mother's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Why would you do something so foolish? What would I have done if something happened to you?" Jian's mother cried, patting her back, her movements gradually turning into gentle caresses, "What happened at school that you couldn't tell me about, keeping it all bottled up inside..."

"Mom, I'm sorry, I was wrong." The fear of what might have been welled up in Jian Yiqiu. She couldn't bear to think what would have happened to her mother if she had really gone through with it.

Overwhelmed with frustration, she impulsively decided to go to the rooftop, and the taunts and insults from the onlookers below led her to leap.

Now, hiding in her mother's embrace, all her grievances found a place to rest.

Mother and daughter cried together while Shen Wang quietly left the hospital room. Outside, on a bench, a group of young people sat huddled together, eagerly watching him.

Shen Wang smiled, "Let's go."

Li Pingping suddenly perked up, anxiously grasping Shen Wang's hand and circling him several times, unable to calm down, "Brother Shen, are you really okay? Falling from such a height, what if you have internal injuries? Maybe we should get you checked out..."

Wang Kai pushed Li Pingping aside, offering Shen Wang a bottle of water with eager hospitality, "Brother Shen is a big deal, just a fall from the rooftop is nothing to him. How can you doubt him?"

Shen Wang took the water and drank, "Pingping, don't worry unnecessarily. I'm sure I'm fine, let's not waste money on a checkup."

Li Pingping frowned, "How can getting a health check be considered a waste of money..."

Seeing Li Pingping gearing up for a long lecture, Shen Wang quickly interrupted, "I'll just buy some medicine myself. Since you're all here, help me carry stuff."

So, the group followed Shen Wang around several pharmacies in C City, buying several bags of traditional Chinese medicine.

Li Pingping watched in disbelief as Shen Wang spent over a hundred thousand on what clearly seemed like fraudulent centuries-old ginseng and millennium-old astragalus, dumbfounded, "Brother Shen, have you stopped being a miser and started playing the fool?"

Shen Wang glared at him irritably, "If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense."

Wang Kai immediately chimed in, "Exactly, if you can't talk sense, better to keep quiet."

The Zhou family's parents were extremely generous, giving Shen Wang a check for two hundred thousand. His first action upon receiving the money was to buy materials for marrow-cleansing liquid.

The materials he had previously bought were used up. The requirements for the second phase of the marrow-cleansing liquid were even stricter. He had been worrying about how to raise funds, but the Zhou family's parents unexpectedly provided a timely solution.

"You students are still too poor. To make big money, you need to expand your external business," Shen Wang remarked, looking at his substantial haul, "The wealthy really never run out of money."

The group returned to their dormitory with bags big and small, and Shen Wang couldn't wait to try out the effects.

The more expensive raw materials resulted in a better quality marrow-cleansing liquid. Soon after drinking it, Shen Wang felt the stubborn impurities in his body dissolving.

The once hair-thin strand of spiritual energy in his meridians had also thickened considerably… at least as thick as a strand of hair, Shen Wang optimistically thought.

Once the marrow cleansing was complete, he could formally embark on cultivation, step into the Qi Condensation phase, and after that, break through to Foundation Building... and then ascending through tribulation wouldn’t be out of reach.

Everything was possible!

While Shen Wang was engrossed in his cultivation, unbeknownst to him, he had topped the trending search list.

#ThePinkUmbrellaHero#

Jian Yiqiu's rooftop standoff had already attracted a crowd, and many took photos and videos, despite the school's specific instructions against sharing them. Nevertheless, some students defied the rules and posted the footage online.

Initially, it was just C City University students commenting excitedly in the discussion section.

Soon, more and more people discovered the video, and increasing numbers questioned its content.

[Can't you make the Photoshop more realistic? Jumping from such a height with just a small umbrella, how could anyone be unharmed?]

[Must be a staged video, well done though. The pink umbrella is memorable, but the content is too exaggerated.]

[Is this what C City University is up to now? But how did the school allow such a big stunt? When I was studying there, the administration was quite strict.]

[Has no one noticed that both the guy and the girl are super attractive? Does anyone have their social media handles? I want to check out these beauties.]

[I know that girl; she's a famous green tea bitch in our school, doesn't have a single female friend, just knows how to deceive men.]

The variety of comments was overwhelming, most expressing skepticism about the video's authenticity. This infuriated Shen Wang's loyal fans, including Wang Kai, who stayed up all night to fiercely retaliate against the skeptics and haters online.

However, the fate of C City's students only added more mystery to the event, increasing its popularity even further.

Tang family.

Since Shen Wang cut ties with the Tang family, Tang father, Tang mother, and Tang Jiu returned to their three-person household life, seemingly no different from before.

However, after discovering Shen Wang had visited the antique street, Tang Jiu became wary, secretly observing Shen Wang's movements.

Unfortunately, Shen Wang mostly stayed in his dormitory and rarely went out, leaving no clues for Tang Jiu.

Even so, Tang Jiu, plagued with suspicion, never ceased his vigilance. Now, seeing Shen Wang trending online, an idea sparked in his mind, as if he understood Shen Wang's intentions.

Tang Jiu hurriedly found Tang father, suppressing the rage in his chest, "Dad, Shen Wang is trending online."

As the head of the Tang family, a renowned business magnate, Tang father looked up blankly, "What trending? Where?"

Tang Jiu quickly searched and showed the interface to his father, who seldom used the internet.

Seeing Shen Wang's face in the video, Tang father frowned immediately, "As a child of the Tang family, showing off in public, what's the difference between him and those actors?"

Tang Jiu tightly closed his eyes, then explained, "Dad, I think he's using public opinion to return to the Tang family. Otherwise, how could an ordinary person like him trend online? Even celebrities have to pay for such exposure."

Tang father then realized, slammed the table, and threw the phone to the ground in anger, "He dares! After taking fifteen million from us, how dare he go back on his word!"

"He is still your blood..." Tang Jiu said slowly, "Perhaps, it's because of this he's confident you won't do anything to him. After all, even a tiger doesn’t eat its cubs."

Tang father paused, then stood up and walked to the window, "Compared to a child with no feelings for us, the reputation of the Tang family is more important."

"Didn't we agree to wait for Shen Wang's hype to die down and then find a way to bring him back to the Tang family?" Hearing what he wanted, Tang Jiu immediately spoke up, "Maybe now is the time."

"Since he wants to use public opinion to force us to acknowledge his existence, we can act first. We'll tell the public about his despicable nature. Then, no matter what he says, people won’t believe him... At that point, when he becomes a pariah, making him disappear won't attract any attention."

"Even if someone noticed, they'd just think Shen Wang found a place to hide himself."

Tang father pondered for a long time before finally nodding, "If you have a plan, go ahead and execute it."

Watching Tang father's retreating back, Tang Jiu's lips curled into a faint smile. He retrieved his phone, looking at the various skeptical comments, his smile growing wider.

Unlike Tang father, who rarely used the internet, Tang Jiu could tell that the video was very likely genuine and not edited.

Shen Wang indeed jumped from a high building and miraculously saved someone unharmed. The reason might be that he had accidentally entered the path of cultivation and thus daringly rescued the person... But so what?

Tang Jiu turned off his phone, resolved never to let Tang father know that Shen Wang had the potential for cultivation.

Shen Wang should remain the useless true heir, the stepping stone under Tang Jiu's feet. The only useful thing about him was his blood.

Shen Wang suddenly opened his eyes. While cultivating, he felt a chill on his back and a wave of malice.

After thinking it over, the only ones who harbored ill will against him were the Tang family.

Shen Wang closed his eyes again, resuming his cultivation. With the Tang family being influential and he just an ordinary person, his only option was to react as things unfolded.

Fortunately, he had recently switched to a new marrow-cleansing liquid. Each time after drinking it and cultivating, his skin was covered with a thick layer of dirt, all impurities expelled from his body.

The fewer impurities in his body, the purer his spiritual energy became. It wouldn't be long before he successfully completed the marrow cleansing and advanced further in his cultivation.

As long as he became powerful enough, the Tang family of C City would be nothing to worry about.

While Shen Wang was cultivating, a significant change occurred at C City University.

It started in a girls' dormitory where several girls inexplicably began to suffer from mouth ulcers. Soon, the simple ulcers rapidly deteriorated, leaving the girls' mouths too grotesque to be seen.

Fearing a contagious disease, everyone avoided them.

The campus was thrown into a state of panic, with masks from the school clinic and supermarkets quickly selling out.

The girls soon took leave to seek medical attention at major hospitals. Initially thought to be a turning point, this strange disease began to spread across the entire campus.

The milder cases only had mouth ulcers without affecting daily life; the severe ones were so bad they couldn't speak, their lips beginning to fester, a terrifying sight.

Everyone wore masks, concealing their faces, with no one knowing what lay beneath.

Jian Yiqiu's dormitory was deserted, and she sat alone, quietly reading under the light, as her roommates had all left to seek medical treatment.

While reading, she picked up her phone, browsed through the confession wall, her social media, and her friends' circles, and suddenly burst into laughter.

Her amusement was interrupted by a message.

It was a school announcement, urging students not to panic and that they were bringing in infectious disease specialists... Jian Yiqiu didn't bother to read further, turning off her phone to continue studying.

With her qualification for a guaranteed postgraduate recommendation gone, she had to double her efforts to pass the graduate entrance exam on her own.

She missed the last line of the notice, which contained another sentence.

'We will invite professionals to inspect for any unscientific occurrences.'