Chapter 26 Around The Body In 80 Breaths

"This Energy Efficiency Star… I want it."

Ikasa looked resolutely toward Feng Yan.

"I already conceded the Dongle to you. Don't reach for a mile when offered an inch."

"But it is our treasure. We discovered it first!"

A third voice chimed as it broke the tense stand-off between Feng Yan and Ikasa.

Feng Yan glared at Chu Qing, annoyed by his interruption. Ikasa looked on with amusement. He could see the makings of a money-grubbing ghost in him.

Xin Ruo knew Feng Yan was about to blow up. She intervened quickly and pulled the kids back.

"Let's leave the negotiations to Big Brother Ikasa. I am sure he won't let us be wronged." Then she pointedly looked at Feng Yan, making her displeasure clear.

Feng Yan was left speechless by his daughter.

'I raised you for twenty-four years! And you are siding with this bastard whom you didn't know a few months ago?'

He controlled his anger. As long as this guy is good to him and his daughter, everything is well and good.

He turned his head to look at Ikasa. He could see the resolve in his eyes to get his hands on the Energy Efficiency Star. But he could not give up either. His comrades in arms were waiting for him to turn their lives around once again.

Ikasa saw the hesitation mixed with unwillingness in Feng Yan's eyes. He was reminded of the conversation he had a few hours ago.

'He is not doing this just for himself.'

Ikasa remembered the reason Feng Yan had stayed back. He decided to negotiate with him.

"What are you going to do with it? Aren't you just going to sell it? I'll offer you double the price!"

"Double the price! Are you sure?"

'The Underworld' had promised 1000 gold for any of the treasures on the list. Feng Yan knew Ikasa was aware of the price. Yet, he had offered double it.

'Just how rich is this guy?' Feng Yan thought to himself.

Though Feng Yan was a Guard Captain, he was still a commoner. His monthly salary was around thirty gold. After that fateful night, he moved to the slums. There earning even a gold coin was difficult, let alone a thousand.

A few months back, even Ikasa assumed a thousand gold to be a huge sum. So it was natural Feng Yan, who had spent the last 18 years in slums, was shocked by his offer.

"Yes, I am very sure. I want to help you do more for your brothers."

While Ikasa's words reflected his intentions, his true thoughts were different.

'An Energy Efficiency Star for 2000 gold; I am getting a huge bargain! These things are sold for at least 3000 gold at the auctions.'

Feng Yan pondered for a while. He saw Xin Ruo staring daggers at him. A sum of 1000 gold. It was a large sum enough to rehabilitate all of the families. He decided not to be greedy.

"Forget it. Even if I did get the Star, I won't be able to sell it to them since we killed the contact. I'll sell it to you for the original price."

Ikasa smiled widely and shook hands on the deal. He promised to send money over as soon as they returned to the city.

Finished with their training, they made haste towards the city.

The two men were very excited to reach the city as soon as possible. They kept urging the coachman to speed up, much to Xin Ruo's chagrin.

She breathed a sigh of relief only when the carriage stopped in front of the Mansion. While she was taking care of her jittery knees, Ikasa had excitedly rushed inside with Feng Yan following behind.

Before she had reached the entrance, Feng Yan came out with three bags in his hands and a broad grin on his face.

When he was before Xin Ruo, he gave her a quick hug. Holding her at an arm's length, he looked appreciatively at her. Then his gaze turned to the window through which Ikasa's figure could be seen.

"Haha, You have truly found me a good son-in-law."

Xin Ruo turned red from anger and embarrassment. She sputtered when she noticed Ikasa looking at the commotion outside.

She avoided his gaze while focusing on Feng Yan and hissed, "Who found you a Son in law? Don't talk nonsense, you old codger."

Feng Yan lightly smacked her forehead.

"Don't learn bad habits from that bastard!"

Seconds later, he changed his tone.

"Since my good son-in-law gave me extra 500 gold, what good things should I buy for your uncles and aunties?"

Xin Ruo looked scandalized at the thought Feng Yan had extorted money from Ikasa. But then again, Ikasa looked unharmed and happy. So it was probably him who had acted with extravagance and given away 500 Gold.

She shook her head in resignation. Before she went inside with the kids, she decided to give final advice to her father.

"Don't splurge it all on booze."

"Tsk… I raised you in vain. This unfilial daughter even thinks her father is a drunkard."

At being called unfilial, Xin Ruo was triggered. She came back down from the stairs and coldly hissed in her father's face.

"Who spent nights awake, drinking alcohol, just so his eyes would stay bloodshot? Who was it who said if he didn't have bloodshot eyes he wouldn't be identified as Red Eye anymore?"

She threw a barrage of questions. Feng Yan hurried to cover her mouth.

"Hey Hey Hey! Now don't expose your father's secrets."

Then he furtively glanced at the kids and Ikasa. Both of them seemed like they didn't hear anything.

"I couldn't treat you the best back then but didn't I find you a husband with this nice mansion?"

Xin Ruo looked at Feng Yan with narrowed eyes.

"Did you not just say that I found you 'a very good Son-In-Law'?"

"Then you denied it. So the credit is mine!"

"Ugh! You are impossible!"

And then she stormed off into the mansion.

Feng Yan watched with a smile the departing figure of his daughter. He then waved once at the kids and Ikasa and walked out while whistling a tune only he knew.

—

Ikasa closed the window after he saw Feng Yan go out of the gates of the Mansion.

'Finally! That old coot took forever to leave.'

Although the exchange of father and daughter was entertaining, he was impatient to explore the mystery of the Energy Efficiency Star.

He had to wait because the old coot was in Sense Realm. He would pick up on any unusual phenomenon caused by the usage of the Energy Efficiency Star.

If his little bit of impatience led to his secret being exposed, he would be unworthy of being called a businessman.

Ikasa carefully unlocked the transparent case of the Energy Efficiency Star. He compared it to the golden yellow star embedded in a red semicircular strip on the Printer.

'As expected. They are the same!'

Ikasa thought as he brought the star closer to one of the four remaining empty slots. The Star was sucked in and a vortex of energy gathered around the Printer.

When the vortex subsided, the red strip had two stars instead of one. The Printer's color had changed to dark grey, different from the matte black it was before.

When Ikasa connected, he felt nothing had changed. The User Interface was still the same old.

He skipped the greetings from the interface and checked the points.

CP: 76

BP: 73

The battle points had increased since Feng Yan had used five of his manuals. He had also given one Movement Technique Manual to Hei Ying. He planned to give everyone else one as well.

So all 73 BP were accounted for. But there were 5 extra CP. Ikasa decided to read the User Manual later to check the cause of this anomaly.

Ikasa toggled back to the Print button from the current Copy button.

"Huh? Golden Print? Is this because of the Energy Efficiency Star?"

His eyes lit up with joy. He now knew that the Golden Print button was like a lottery, with the best prize pool. As the User's energy improved, so would the levels of the manuals available for printing.

He prayed to his lucky god once and clicked the Print Button.

The familiar phenomenon of the air being sucked through the paper tray at the back appeared, and the printer started to print a new manual.

Ikasa had kept his eyes closed this entire time and had not even looked at the name of the manual he had drawn.

A few moments later, a book with a shining golden cover was sitting on his desk. He picked it up and read the cerulean blue-colored title embossed on the cover.

"Around the Body in 80 Breaths."

His hands trembled, and he slammed the book back on the table.

"Fcuk this! Can I get a single book with a normal name?"

Dissatisfied with the name, he still read through the manual. When he finished arranging the intended energy path of this manual, his eyes turned as big as saucers.

'This… this is insane!'

There were hundred and eight postures depicted on the pages. Thirteen types of breathing techniques to complement those postures were also described in the book.

The energy path overlapped on each and every blood vessel in the human body. This meant it would strengthen every tissue, every cell of the Human Body!

'If anyone is successful in cultivating this manual, wouldn't he be as strong as a Condensation-Stage Spiritual beast in Path Forging Realm itself?'

He quickly reviewed the manual. He could trace the energy path shown in Dumb Belle's Guide to Strength in this technique's energy path.

'So Dumb Belle's Guide to Strength might be an offshoot of this Cultivation manual.'

Ikasa quickly turned to the Copy button to get a few more prints of this manual. He was going to let Xin Ruo and the Kids practice this manual from now on.

When he selected the [Around the Body in 80 Breaths] as a target for copying, he received new options that were not available before.

[Copy x1] [Copy x100]

He selected [Copyx100].

'Anyways, I don't have 100 CP. Hence, the printer cannot create 100 copies.'

Or so he thought.

[Would you like to use 50 CP to create a Hundred-Use manual?]