Chapter Forty-Seven: The Heavenly Secrets Roll

Out of respect for Ye Qingshi's personal privacy, Fang Can felt somewhat hesitant to forcefully intrude into her chambers. Therefore, for the entire duration of the deep night, Fang Can simply sat cross-legged right outside her door to practice his cultivation.

When combined with medicinal pills, the two methods reinforced each other. Although it could not achieve the effect of one plus one equaling two, reaching a multiplier of 1.7 was effortless. Feeling his aptitude, which was the slowest to improve, continuously increasing once more, Fang Can became even more enthusiastic about his cultivation. Naturally, while practicing, various thoughts related to aptitude also floated into his mind.

"Miss Ye seems to have had rather poor sleep quality tonight," Fang Can judged inwardly as he sat cross-legged by the threshold.

Acting as Ye Qingshi's signal receiver, he could clearly perceive the impact that Ye Qingshi's movements had on his own aptitude. This precision of judgment was accurate down to the centimeter. Stationed at the doorway, he could distinctly sense that throughout the entire night, she had been tossing and turning, repeatedly rolling across her bed, which caused the signal to weaken.

"Is this scoundrel planning to permanently set up camp at my door?"

Inside the young maiden's bedchamber, as the indoor lights extinguished and the moonlight outside cast its glow, Ye Qingshi could clearly see a dark silhouette sitting cross-legged right at her entrance. Seeing such a shadowy figure outside her door—ghost or human—was more than anyone could bear. The mere thought of Fang Can lingering at her doorstep throughout the long, lonely night made it impossible for Ye Qingshi to fall asleep. She tossed and turning frequently in bed, casting sideways glances at the doorway every so often to see when he would finally leave.

To her disappointment, however, that figure remained steadfast and motionless in place. Until exhaustion finally overcame her and she drifted into a deep sleep, Fang Can did not shift his position even once.

Throughout the long night, Fang Can's physique solidified. While practicing the Golden Body of Subduing Tigers and Suppressing Dragons, he did not neglect the enhancement of his fleshly mutation degree either, making simultaneous progress on two fronts with undivided focus. As the sun rose high in the sky the next day, after a night of relentless effort, Fang Can's strength had increased visibly to the naked eye.

Status Panel:
Flesh Mutation: 15%
Golden Body of Subduing Tigers and Suppressing Dragons: 35 oscillations per breath

Such progress was not even the result of him exerting his full strength in physical cultivation; merely two more days would be enough for him to attempt breaking through to the second stage of the Mysterious Gate.

"At this rate, within two months, I can push my physical strength to the ultimate realm of the Mortal-Shedding Body at the tenth stage of the Mysterious Gate," Fang Can estimated silently in his heart.

Of course, all of this came with the prerequisite that he could spend the next two months acting like an attached burden, day in and day out, by Miss Ye's side. The mere thought of that picture was too wonderful to contemplate; not only would it damage her reputation, but he was also a fugitive who had fled here and could not stay for long.

While he was thus quietly pondering, the front door creaked open behind him, and Ye Qingshi walked out of the room with a haggard expression. Seeing the young man sitting cross-legged like an ancient monk entering deep meditation, the young maiden suppressed the urge to hurl curses and muttered continuously to herself: "I must get this scoundrel to leave. What on earth does it look like for him to guard a maiden's bedchamber all night? It is utterly discourteous."

Harboring this bizarre sentiment, the young maiden had just intended to step out for a stroll when she felt a chill run down her spine. The lingering, ghostly entity had already latched onto her from behind.

"Ah!!!" Ye Qingshi cried out in exasperation, "Can you stop following me? There are so many people in town, and I'm not the only one who looks good! Besides, if you're looking for beauty, why don't you take a look in the mirror? If all else fails, go find some theater actors and put on some makeup—you might not even fall short of me!"

After venting the grievances accumulated over the entire night in a rapid-fire volley of words, Ye Qingshi saw Fang Can reply innocently, "Only Miss Ye is special; there is no substitute for the time being."

"Detestable..." Ye Qingshi gritted her pearly white teeth in anger, but after letting out a cold snort, she chose to walk away, leaving Fang Can to stick to her like a plaster of dog-skin medicine.

Yet, she soon fell apart, because in the distance, Yan Zhi was already approaching with a flattering smile, pushing a wheelchair: "Young Master Fang, these are the things you asked us to find yesterday."

Fang Can smiled and expressed his gratitude, "Sorry for the trouble. Next, could I ask you for a favor?"

"Of course, no problem at all! As long as Young Master Fang speaks up, going through mountains of blades and seas of fire is fine by me," Yan Zhi said, patting his chest vigorously until it thumped loudly.

"It's not quite that dangerous, just perhaps a bit troublesome," Fang Can said as he sat straight into the wheelchair, pointing toward the dumbfounded Ye Qingshi not far away, and added: "Would you mind pushing me to follow right behind Miss Ye? Wherever Miss Ye goes, I go. It's best not to stray too far."

"Ah... This..." Yan Zhi stared blankly at Fang Can, never expecting the other party to harbor such an intention. Guessing wildly, he leaned close to Fang Can's ear and whispered, "Young Master Fang, if you fancy Senior Sister Ye, you should probably try a different approach. Blindly entangling yourself like this might backfire."

Too lazy to re-explain the pretense he had fed Ye Qingshi, Fang Can raised his eyes and said, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. Since Young Master Fang insists, I can only comply."

Yan Zhi looked at Fang Can with inner helplessness, already mentally categorizing him as an ignorant youth who was experiencing his first romantic crush without any experience and only knew how to blindly curry favor. Recalling his discussion with the martial arts hall master from the previous day, Yan Zhi sighed inwardly: *Ah, youth knows nothing of the taste of sorrow; they still need an old fellow like me to plot and scheme for them.*

Pondering countermeasures in his mind, Yan Zhi slowly pushed Fang Can to follow behind Ye Qingshi, only to watch the young maiden turn back and re-enter her room with a frosty expression, refusing to utter a single word. After all, going out looking like this could practically be classified as performance art.

Watching the young maiden retreat back into her boudoir, Yan Zhi looked down again at the youth who was closing his eyes to rest his mind while actually earnestly cultivating, and a profound sense of helplessness washed over him.

Suddenly, he spoke up: "Young Master Fang, the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion should be releasing its new rankings this morning. Would you like to get a copy of the Heavenly Mystery Roll to peruse?"

"The Heavenly Mystery Pavilion?" Fang Can muttered inwardly upon first arriving in this world. It seemed that Jiang Nan'an had also mentioned this organization previously.

Looking at Yan Zhi, Fang Can found it slightly awkward to admit he had no idea what this Heavenly Mystery Roll was. He tossed out ten taels of silver and feigned casual indifference: "Then I'll have to trouble you to go buy a copy of the Heavenly Mystery Roll for me. Keep the change."

"What are you saying, Young Master? Serving you is precisely what I ought to do. I only hope Young Master might offer me a pointer or two regarding my martial arts afterward." Yan Zhi accepted the silver with a smile and bolted off like lightning.

Bracing himself with certain thoughts, Fang Can gently knocked on Ye Qingshi's door.

"What is it?" The young maiden opened the door with an ill expression.

"Miss Ye, do you know what the Heavenly Mystery Roll is?" Fang Can asked solemnly.

His intuition told him that this Heavenly Mystery Roll seemed somewhat extraordinary, so he directly sought enlightenment from Ye Qingshi, who possessed no martial arts.

"What foolish nonsense are you talking about? Who wouldn't know about the Heavenly..." Halfway through her sentence, the young maiden stared intently into Fang Can's face and remarked in astonishment, "You don't actually know what the Heavenly Mystery Roll is, do you?"

"I know," Fang Can replied instantly.

"Then tell me, what is the Heavenly Mystery Roll?"

Fang Can: ......

Looking at the silent Fang Can, the corners of Ye Qingshi's bright and vivid face slowly curved upward into an expression she simply could not suppress.