Chance Encounter

At the eastern branch of the Mantis Snake Sword School.

"Junior Brother Chen, good morning."

"Junior Brother Chen, have you had breakfast?"

"Junior Brother Chen, this is a special product my aunt brought from the provincial city. Try it."

…

Many senior brothers and sisters took the initiative to greet Chen Yiming before the morning cultivation class.

Ever since Chen Yiming had fought on par with Wang Bowen, who had suppressed his cultivation level, and stood his own against Zhang Youde's Long Rainbow Sword Technique, even the slowest student had reacted.

This new trainee who had just arrived a month ago was about to soar into the sky.

With Chen Yiming's rise in the martial arts world, there were many things that they would need to rely on him for in the future. If they didn't take advantage of this opportunity to build a good relationship with him, he would have no reason to help them even if they needed his assistance in the future.

Zhang Youde greeted Chen Yiming briefly before finding an empty spot to train on his own.

He did try to convince Chen Yiming again, and behaved as though nothing had happened the day before.

Chen Yiming heaved a sigh of relief. He had been worried that Zhang Youde would not give up and would invite him to join the organization again and again. He did not know how he could keep rejecting him.

From the looks of it, he had been overthinking. Zhang Youde was not that kind of person.

The rays from the rising sun were warm.

Chen Yiming also found an empty spot and continued to practice his swordsmanship.

Now that he had received the advance salary from the Power-doubling Martial Arts Training Center, the price of black pork was considered very cheap to him. He no longer had to worry about his body going into an energy deficit.

He constantly squeezed out the potential in his body and practiced the Mantis Snake Sword Technique again and again, tempering every muscle in his body.

The Mantis Snake Sword Technique's tempering effect on the body was far superior to the Phantom Sword Technique and Long Rainbow Sword Technique that Chen Yiming had secretly learned from Liu Qingqing and Zhang Youde.

As he came into contact with other sword techniques, with his Level-1 swordsmanship talent, he quickly extracted the essence of the sword skills he had mastered.

For example, the Phantom Sword Technique focused on making use of the loopholes in the line of sight. There were very few parts that involved tempering the body.

Chen Yiming guessed that this sword technique was probably a part of the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique, or even a simplified version.

As for the Long Rainbow Sword Technique, it was Zhang Youde's clan's secret technique. The key lay in the variations of the moves and its strength in pursuit. It was much better at tempering the body than Phantom Sword Technique.

However, it was a sword technique passed down within a small martial arts clan. It was far inferior to the Mantis Snake Sword Technique in terms of tempering the body, so it was not of much use to Chen Yiming.

He took some of the useful moves of these two sword techniques and made them into his trump cards. Under special circumstances, he would use them. His main focus for cultivation was still the Mantis Snake Sword Technique.

…

During lunch break, Chen Yiming went home first. He took out a small portion of his salary from the previous night, then wrapped the rest in a cloth bag Father Chen had prepared beforehand and went to the bank to deposit the money.

Keeping too much money at home was not a good thing for the family. A man's wealth was his own ruin by causing another's greed.

It would be bad if the information was leaked and someone was spying on them. There would definitely be times when Chen Yiming would not be home.

"Why don't I buy a metal sword?"

As Chen Yiming walked out of the bank, a thought struck him.

In the end, wooden swords were only suitable for practice. The last time he encountered bandits, there was no problem because the difference in strength between them was too great. Even if he was empty-handed, there would not have been much of a problem.

However, if he were to encounter an enemy of the same level, the wooden sword would be unsuitable. If he was not careful, it might break. Once the sword in his hand was gone, to a swordsman, his strength would immediately drop by more than one level.

There was no time like the present.

Chen Yiming turned around and walked towards the Aegean Sea Shopping Center beside the bank.

Previously, when he was delivering food, he remembered that there was a shop on the sixth floor that specialized in selling all kinds of knives, swords, gloves, and other equipment.

The equipment used for practicing martial arts was different from mutant beast meat. As it involved a large number of martial arts practitioners below the disciple realm, ordinary equipment could still be purchased from the market.

"Power-doubling Martial Artist Equipment."

Chen Yiming walked around the sixth floor of the Aegean Sea Shopping Center and found a store with a familiar-sounding name.

Power-doubling Martial Artist Equipment was from the same corporation as the Power-doubling Martial Arts Training Center where he was a part-time teacher.

Chen Yiming had a good impression of the Power-doubling Group. They had known that he went there to work as a part-time teacher for money, so he was paid a month's salary in advance.

Thinking that it would be the same wherever he went to buy a metal sword since he did not have high expectations for it, he went straight into the shop.

He had only been browsing for a few minutes, when a light voice rang out. "Chen Yiming."

Chen Yiming turned towards the voice and saw a strange yet familiar figure at the cashier counter.

She was wearing a pure white down jacket with a colorful crystal pendant around her neck. Her long black hair was let down and tied with a pink bow.

"Zheng Xiaoli?" Chen Yiming replied hesitantly, unsure if he had gotten the person's name right.

In the memories of his body's owner, there was indeed such a person. It took Chen Yiming a lot of effort to call up the memory of this person.

Zheng Xiaoli was his body's owner's high school classmate. She used to be the object of his affection. It was not because his body's owner truly liked her, but an impulse born from her beautiful appearance.

However, his body's owner could only fantasize about beautiful women in his dreams, and did not dare to take any action in reality.

"Yiming, long time no see. I almost couldn't recognize you. You've changed so much."

Zheng Xiaoli walked out from behind the cashier counter and greeted him with a smile.

As she spoke, a dimple appeared at the corner of her mouth. She had a sunny disposition.

"You too. I didn't even recognize you when I walked through the door. Do you work here?" Chen Yiming asked in return.

"Yeah, school is still suspended and there's nothing to do at home, so I found a job to earn some pocket money," Zheng Xiaoli answered softly, clearly feeling a little embarrassed.

This wasn't a well-respected job, and she didn't want Chen Yiming to look down on her.

"By the way, I heard that you joined the Mantis Snake Sword School. When I received the news, it had already been a few days. I'm sorry that I couldn't attend your celebration banquet."

Zheng Xiaoli mentioned what had happened in the past.

"It's alright, I didn't want to publicize it."

Chen Yiming smiled. He didn't care about these formalities.

"When we were studying, no one could have known that you would be so powerful now. You actually dropped out of school and joined a martial arts school to become a trainee. It's like you're acting in a television drama."

Zheng Xiaoli stared at Chen Yiming as she spoke, trying to decipher his expression.

"Me too…"

Before Chen Yiming could finish speaking, he was interrupted from behind.

"This is…"

Zhao Yuanfeng asked.

He was sitting on a stool at the entrance of the shop, waiting for Zheng Xiaoli to get off work. Suddenly, he saw that his girlfriend was chatting with an unfamiliar young man, so he entered the shop and interrupted their conversation.

"His name is Chen Yiming. He was my high school classmate," Zheng Xiaoli stammered, seeming a little upset.

"Hello, I'm Zheng Xiaoli's boyfriend, Zhao Yuanfeng."

Zhao Yuanfeng didn't look too happy either. He extended his hand, wanting to shake Chen Yiming's hand.