Zhang Yu scrolled through the content of the newly acquired Resentment Arts on his phone.

This top-tier, expert-grade cultivation method had plummeted in price due to its requirement for resentment during practice, allowing Zhang Yu to purchase it for 500,000. After a careful read, he intended to follow the instructions to cultivate the technique and refine his body.

He touched the employee ID badge hanging on his chest. It bore the large characters “Front-line Employee” and was constantly absorbing the surging resentment from the air. This badge-like object was the external spirit root—the Resentment Spirit Root—sent by Zhou Chechen. Its badge appearance, it was said, made it easier to store resentment.

As Zhang Yu channeled his magical power into the Resentment Spirit Root, the entire world instantly transformed in his perception. Songyang High School, which had just moments ago seemed tranquil and peaceful, now appeared to him as wisps of black qi shooting skyward, filled with twisted, struggling faces that let out ghostly wails and howls.

“Is this what resentment is?” Zhang Yu knew that resentment was the residue of human negative emotions, commonly found in Kunxu’s cemeteries, schools, and companies. However, because schools and companies had more living people constantly generating resentment, the volume of resentment far exceeded that of cemeteries. But cemeteries had the advantage of purer, more aged resentment, making its quality far superior to that from schools and companies, thus dead people’s resentment had broader uses and commanded higher prices.

Zhang Yu thought, “According to Fu Ji, if a family has enough ancestors buried for long enough, just renting out the graves as cultivation grounds could earn a lot each month. Ah, it’s true that an elder in the family is like a treasure. It’s a pity that the original Zhang Yu’s ancestors barely scraped together enough money to cover a corpse disposal fee, let alone buy a burial plot.”

He controlled the Resentment Spirit Root, taking a deep breath, and felt wisps of resentment pour into his nose and mouth. In an instant, intense waves of anger, humiliation, regret, and despair relentlessly assaulted Zhang Yu’s mind, making him experience the powerful negative emotions unleashed by countless underperforming students facing falling rankings, declining grades, or enduring humiliation.

Zhang Yu quickly activated the Remnant Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Incantation to resist the onslaught of these negative emotions, and following the methods described in the Resentment Arts, he began to refine the resentment. The cultivation method for Resentment Arts involved absorbing resentment, then purifying it of specific emotions to leave behind pure malevolent qi. This qi was then used to temper one’s flesh, mimicking the methods of refining corpses, ultimately forging a bronze-armored corpse skin impervious to blades and spears.

After several minutes, Zhang Yu stumbled through the first cultivation cycle, feeling a faint coolness emanating from a palm-sized area of skin on his chest. He mused, “If I were to follow the normal progression, this cultivation method would probably take a year and a half to show results. Thankfully, with my efforts, the Plume Scroll will allow me to quickly master this technique.”

Zhang Yu looked up and saw that the Resentment Arts displayed on the Plume Scroll had changed from Level 0 (0/1) to Level 1 (2/10). The ultimate effect of his High School Sacred Body allowed Zhang Yu to achieve three times the effect for every cultivation cycle of any Qi Refinement stage technique. This was precisely why he was confident in aggressively cultivating techniques over the next three months, gradually bolstering the foundation of his Martial Dao Sacred Embryo.

Over ten minutes later, as he completed cycle after cycle of the Resentment Arts, it was as if a bolt of lightning had struck Zhang Yu’s mind, and images of refining the skin on his chest with resentment flashed by. Simultaneously, he felt something living vigorously growing beneath the skin of his chest, like a thin membrane tightly enveloping his chest.

“Resentment Arts Level 1 complete.” Zhang Yu slowly recalled the cultivation memories in his mind, feeling the changes in his body. He thought, “Each level of the Resentment Arts refines different parts of the body’s flesh. At Level 10, one will forge a bronze-armored corpse skin, like a form-fitting inner armor, greatly increasing the body’s defensive capabilities.”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Zhang Yu resumed his cultivation, intending to seize the time to push the Resentment Arts to Level 10. Time swiftly passed as Zhang Yu cultivated, and soon it was dismissal time, evening.

Under the night sky, 999 silver needles gleamed with electrical currents, piercing Bai Zhenzhen’s body at various points from head to toe. As Bai Zhenzhen activated her Thunderbolt True Body, the electrical currents could be seen dancing back and forth along the silver needles, constantly stimulating her nerves and muscles. Bai Zhenzhen felt that, in addition to an increase in physical strength, her nerves, which had long ceased growing, were now experiencing a new round of growth under the effect of the Profound Thunder Electro-Acupuncture Needle Set, like a withered tree encountering spring. This helped her grasp her body more deeply, meticulously, and swiftly. If her original Thunderbolt True Body was merely a second-rate expert-grade body refinement technique, then with the True Spirit Root’s deductions, the enhancement of thunderous magical power, and now the assistance of the Profound Thunder Electro-Acupuncture Needle Set, it had the effect of a top-tier expert-grade body refinement technique.

Suddenly, the electrical currents began to weaken. The artifact spirit inside the needle box announced, “Low battery. Please charge in time, user.”

Temporarily retracting the 999 silver needles, Bai Zhenzhen looked at Zhang Yu and said, “Yu, ready to head to the Dark Study Gang?”

Zhang Yu, who had been cultivating the Resentment Arts nearby, slowly opened his eyes, a hint of malevolent qi flashing within them. After a day of cultivation, he had advanced the Resentment Arts to Level 8 (15/90). Zhang Yu could now feel a thin membrane covering all his skin beneath the surface, except for his face. Normally, this membrane didn’t hinder movement, but the moment he exerted his strength, it would act like a layer of iron armor, protecting his body.

Fu Ji, standing nearby, observed the changes in Zhang Yu’s body, especially the faint, intricate patterns on his exposed arm skin. She exclaimed inwardly, “This guy’s Resentment Arts is progressing so fast! I feel like in just one day, he’s nearly mastered this technique. It must be because his potential was re-activated last time, making Zhang Yu’s talent even more terrifying. Hehehe, excellent, excellent. Once he gets his High School Foundation Establishment Certificate and ascends to the second floor, the sky will be high for birds to fly, and the sea wide for fish to leap!”

Zhang Yu slowly stood up, stretched his somewhat dry and stiff skin, and nodded, “Let’s go.” Before leaving, Bai Zhenzhen returned the Profound Thunder Electro-Acupuncture Needle Set for charging.

After leaving the school gate, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen flickered, activating their movement techniques. They found a secluded spot to change their figures and disguise their appearances before dashing towards the Dark Study Gang’s headquarters.

When Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, posing as tutors Ma Yunteng and Le Mulan, arrived outside the compound, they were surprised to find security teams from Xianyun Group entering and exiting the brightly lit compound. Constables were assisting them, escorting Dark Study Gang members out.

They overheard one dusty-faced, bruised gang tutor crying, “This is my first time tutoring here! Truly my first time!”

A constable nearby snorted, “Do your family members know you’re doing illegal things here?”

The tutor wailed, “It has nothing to do with my family! They trust me completely, they don’t know I would do something like this. I was temporarily misled by folly, wanting to earn some quick money, thinking it would be fine to tutor once or twice. I truly know I was wrong. I’m sorry to my parents; they didn’t raise me to illegally tutor people. Please let me go, I truly have no money left to pay…”

Another older constable interjected, “The names, identities, and motives of these people from the underground tutoring scene are all made up. They don’t speak a single truth. Don’t believe a word they say. You’ll understand once you’ve seen more of them.”

From a distance, Zhang Yu, hidden in the shadows, exclaimed, “The Dark Study Gang was wiped out?”

Bai Zhenzhen replied helplessly, “What do we do now? Find another gang and start over?”

Fu Ji reminded them, “Don’t you have the contact information for that Dark Study Gang intermediary, the one named Black Crow? Contact him and see. The Dark Study Gang isn’t small; one compound being raided doesn’t mean the gang is gone.”

Zhang Yu remembered. He had added Black Crow as a friend in the Kun God World app and could contact him. So Zhang Yu opened the Kun God World on his phone and soon connected with Black Crow.

After a brief exchange, Zhang Yu learned that the underground tutoring scene in Songyang City had recently been experiencing surging undercurrents. Specifically, the clashes between the Dark Study Gang and the Golden Class Gang were becoming increasingly severe, with constant incidents of stealing curricula, burning textbooks, assassinating elite teachers, and reporting tutoring centers. As Zhang Yu knew, these two gangs were backed by the Deep Sea Education Group and the Xianyun Education Group, respectively.

Zhang Yu thought, “The Dark Study Gang and Golden Class Gang are fighting so fiercely, does this mean the conflicts between their behemoth backers, the Deep Sea Group and Xianyun Group, have also escalated?” He didn’t know why, but Zhang Yu had a feeling that since the beginning of this year, all companies in Songyang City seemed to be revealing a sense of impatience, an escalating intensity of competition.

Temporarily suppressing his speculations about the situation in Songyang, Zhang Yu refocused on the Dark Study Gang’s circumstances. Zhang Yu explained, “According to Black Crow, with the escalating gang fights, many elite teachers within the Dark Study Gang have fallen. So they’ve been recruiting experts to give lectures or participate in gang battles.”

Bai Zhenzhen responded, “If it’s lecturing, what kind of classes are profitable now? Can the techniques I know earn a lot of money? I feel like just tutoring high school students or construction workers isn’t making money fast enough.”

Zhang Yu asked Black Crow, who sent back an animated poster. The poster showed a group of white-haired elders diligently studying and cultivating. One vigorous old man spoke loudly, “At 90 years old, with elders above and children below, this is precisely the age for striving and struggling! I want to take my 130-year-old parents to eat pre-made meals, enroll my 60-year-old son in a tutoring class, help my 30-year-old grandson rent a sewer dwelling near the subway, and ensure my 5-year-old great-granddaughter can enter an elite kindergarten. How can I stop learning? How can I be eliminated from the workplace?”

“In ancient times, a 100-year-old prime minister reclaimed territories, a 500-year-old great demon refined itself into human form, and a 1000-year-old grand-matron married an immortal.” The old man in the poster clenched his fist and shouted with fighting spirit, “Strive! It’s never too late, no matter how old you are!”