12 12 - Binchu University

Wu Ling sat with a group of friends in college. It was going to be their last dinner before everyone returned to their home for break.

Like any other gathering, her group of friends gossiped about everything that happened around the university.

"I'm so sad that Senior Fuzheng graduate this year," pouted Li Ching, a petite girl with a short clean bob.

"I heard he's going to work for Bababa," said Zhu Ah Nin, the gossip queen. "His salary is going to be huge."

"Oh, I almost forgot, isn't Bu Fuzheng your cousin's friend?" asked Li Ching.

Wu Ling nodded. "Yeah, they are always together growing up, and with Fatty Fang too."

"You mean Wang Fang? The giant and scary guy in the fine arts department?"

Wu Ling nodded.

"I heard he won a local sanda competition," said Zhu Ah Nin checking the information on the Binchu University's student online forum.

"Isn't Senior Mu Lian dating him?" asked Li Ching. "Talk about complete opposites. Senior Mu Lian is like a swan."

"Fatty Fang is quite nice once you get to know him," said Wu Ling. "He used to pick on me as a little girl, but he got better after high school. Bufu and my cousin, on the other hand, are the mean ones."

"Speaking of your cousin, there's a little post about him on the university forum," said Zhu Ah Nin.

Wu Ling laughed. "Really!? No way," Wu Ling looked through her phone, and cracked out loud laughing as well.

"The sleeping sloth."

Everyone at the table laughed.

Wu Ling shook her head in shame. "I knew this would happen. He never liked to study before. I guess his usual habit is acting up again."

"Oh hey, Xiao Ling, I heard you're also friends with Song Meilin," said Zhu Ah Nin.

"Ah, yes, we took an art elective class together, why?"

"Do you know she's an online streamer?"

"Oh yeah, don't remind me. She's trying to get me to stream with her." Wu Ling cringed. "I really don't like the idea of random creeps watching me."

"That's too bad, you would make a great streamer," said An Zhang Mi, her friend from high school. "All the college boys would flock to you like flies."

Wu Ling hated the attention she got already. She didn't want to date anyone in college, so why would she become a streamer?

"Song Meilin is gaining a bit more popularity online. She jumped from sixth to third place on the beauty list, after Sister Xuxu and you," said Zhu Ah Nin.

"Oh ****," Wu Ling suddenly remembered something. "Senior Xuxu is graduating too."

Without Ning Xuxu, Wu Ling would naturally take the crown as the reigning beauty of Binchu University.

"Oh ho," An Zhang Mi cheekily smiled. "The boys will really flock to you now with Senior Xuxu leaving. You better hope there's a beautiful incoming freshman."

Wu Ling groaned with annoyance.

The next few days, she attended her cousin's friends' graduation.

All the family members attended the ceremony. Students were all relieved that they made it through, and were excited for the next stage of their life.

Bufu graduated with a degree in computer science and took a job at a major international company with above average salary. Bu Chi and his father, Bu Fan, were naturally happy with their son.

Fatty Fang got a degree in Fine Arts after switching degrees two times. Li Yun had warned him that he wasn't the type to study well, so any degree would work. He suggested fine arts as it was the easiest, but Fatty Fang refused and took Economics, then changed to Business and finally settled on Fine Arts. Although it took him some time, he was offered a job at a local company. His biggest accomplishment in college was finding a cute girlfriend named Mu Lian who had been with him since his third year of college. His parents were also very happy with their son.

Li Yun's accomplishment, 29 health points (jing-essence), 30 mana points (qi-energy/breathe), and 30 spirit points (shen-soul).

He was able to gain action points by completing the various sidequests, mainly reading textbooks. It wasn't until the age of 19 that the system deemed that he was fit and mature enough to add points in jing, qi and shen. Although Li Yun could see the gain numerically, he had no point of reference to compare it to.

If he was a serious gamer like Bufu, a good strategy would be to raise one stat as high as possible. However, Li Yun decided against it since there was no sense of balance and the stat didn't seem like a typical game. There was also no point in thinking about it since there wasn't a clear pathway in Tao. So everything was distributed evenly amongst the three stats.

Unfortunately, the fruit of his labor could not be seen by his parents. A terrible son, they would say.

"You don't even have a degree yet, couldn't you get a normal job?" Lu Suyin scolded as they were playing mahjong.

"It's a five year program," Li Yun explained, although it wasn't the first time he mentioned this to his parents. "The fifth year is just an internship."

"Can you even graduate? Xiao Ling told me you always sleep in class, no wonder why your grades are terrible," Lu Suyin continued scolding.

"Xiao Ling has a big mouth," Li Yun complained. He didn't think a B was terrible. "She's not even in my class."

Lu Suyin kicked his foot. "And don't call your elder sister, Xiao Ling," Lu Suyin scolded again.

"You are apparently infamous at the university," replied Aunt Lu Xu. "The sleeping sloth."

Li Yun gritted his teeth, slightly annoyed that someone posted a picture of him sleeping in class. He worked very hard in college, so the nickname he got in his third year was really unwarranted.

"Full flush," Li Yun stole the last piece he needed, and revealed his hand.

"You owe us 50k," Lu Suyin pouted right after Li Yun won with a full flush.

"Don't be petty ma, now hand over the 50 yuan," Li Yun took out his left palm, waiting for Lu Xu, Li Fan, and Lu Yun to hand over the money.

Lu Suyin handed over the money. "When is our next payment?"

"Probably the end of this month." Li Yun had been paying back his tuition using the money earned from selling the Taoist texts.

In the beginning, there wasn't much activity, but they had managed to sell some of the less expensive books and scrolls. Over the past five years, Li Yun was able to sell around 500 books and repaid his parents the majority of the tuition fees. Only 50k yuan was left.

"The internship will start soon, so I do not need allowances from now on," said Li Yun.

"Are you sure? I heard interns don't get paid that much," said Lu Suyin.

"Yep, should be fine."

A few weeks later, Li Yun began his internship at Binchu University Hospital. Life as an intern was difficult, but even more so when he had to complete the system's missions on top of it.

12 hours a day work week didn't leave much time for him to meditate and read textbooks. As soon as he got home, he meditated for an hour, spent four hours reading, and then slept for three hours. Once he woke up, he spent the morning meditating again.

One morning, after entering a state of deep meditation, he was awarded with a heavenly gift for achieving the Zuowang, the Zuowang.

Li Yun clenched his fist and yelled, "******* system!"

He wanted to smash the system. He had spent nearly all of college life perfecting the Zuowang and the system had the galls to reward him with it.

Li Yun thought about all the injustices he had suffered in college.

During college, he focused on completing side quests and researching ways to achieve Zuowang. Although they were his focus, he had enough EQ to maintain a social life. He made friends, dated, and joined school clubs like a typical college student. Unfortunately, there weren't enough hours in a day and it meant sacrificing his grades.

The contributing factor to his unfortunate nickname was attempting to achieve the Zuowang. Zuowang was the state of absolute clarity and nothingness through meditation. He had tried many positions based on his research and understanding of Tao. Contrary to the dignified position shown in the 7-point sitting posture, the best position was simply to rest the head on a surface. Unfortunately, to the untrained eyes, it looked like he was sleeping.

It also wasn't possible to substitute meditation with sleeping.

The closer he got to Zuowang, the more it drained his jing and shen. Sleeping was the best way to recover jing, qi, and shen. Intercourse could recover a lot of jing, but no shen. Too much intercourse could drain all qi, shen, and jing. Various food could recover a bit of jing and shen, and reading helped to recover a bit of shen.

Li Yun felt a bit depressed over his reward, and sighed.