Chapter 6: Chapter 5: Five Years Of Insignificance (Part 5)

Back in his dorm, which was merely 10 square meters in area, Zhang Wei was sitting on his tiny bed in a lotus position.

His eyes were tightly shut, and beads of sweat were dripping down his face, meanwhilst his facial expression reflected that he was struggling.

Yes, this was him attempting to break through!

From the information that he had gathered, and the memories of the previous Zhang Wei, he knew that to break through to the next stage he had to gather a certain amount of spiritual energy using breathing techniques, spirit herbs, or spiritual pills.

Once he had gathered that amount of spirit energy in his dantian, he then had to condense it into as small a sphere as he could muster.

Once it became small enough, he would then experience a feeling of satisfaction and comfort which indicated that he had successfully broken through to the next stage.  

At this point in time, Zhang Wei had already condensed his ball of spiritual energy for five hours and felt that he was finally about to achieve a breakthrough!

It had to be known that the reason Zhang Wei was finding it proportionately more difficult to achieve a breakthrough than Lin Fan, who could break through five times in a few hours, was due to a host of different reasons.

Firstly, Lin Fan was a protagonist. And as a protagonist, he wasn't someone who could be measured with common sense.

Secondly, Lin Fan had already cultivated up to that level before, and even further, therefore he had already experienced reaching such a stage and it was naturally easier for him to get there as compared to a first timer like Zhang Wei.

Thirdly, Zhang Wei's talent was incredibly average.

No seriously, if there was a statistic for cultivation talent, Zhang Wei would be slap bang in the middle.

His ability to circulate spiritual energy through his meridians to the dantian and his spiritual energy manipulation was every bit inferior to a monster like Lin Fan therefore, naturally, his breakthrough speed and difficulty would be affected.

Lastly, Zhang Wei was currently in a very strange position.

Usually, when someone reaches the point of breaking through to the 4th stage of the foundation building realm, they'd have proper experience with breaking through since they've gone through stages 1-3.

However, Zhang Wei was an anomaly.

He hadn't personally cultivated his way to this stage but, rather, got transmigrated over into someone else's body that had reached this stage!

He didn't have the practical experience of breaking through!

Sure, he had the memories of the other 'him' breaking through but they were akin to scenes from a movie. None of those memories helped a lot with important factors such as, keeping his cool or actually controlling and condensing the spiritual energy.

So as you could tell, it wasn't an easy time for Zhang Wei to break through.

Fortunately though, even with obstacles, the process of overcoming minor realms wasn't particularly difficult- All it involved was to continuously repeat the same form of manipulation repeatedly until success.

Rarely, were there any cases of people failing to break through a minor realm under the conditions that said person was fully focused. And even if Zhang Wei did fail, he'd at most only have to recultivate some spiritual energy, heal some minor injuries and try again.

As expected, soon enough, Zhang Wei's eyes opened and he let out a large sigh of relief.

4th stage of foundation establishment realm!

He had finally succeeded!

As he got up from his bed and stretched, he noticed that he felt lighter.

When compared to before, he felt like a few kilograms had been removed!

Zhang Wei's face lit up, and he couldn't help but marvel over how cool this moment was.

To think that... I'd be able to experience a cultivation breakthrough in my life!

Simply unbelievable.

Although there have been some hardships with living in this foreign world, such as a lack of a proper bathroom, there have also been numerous great moments I've had here.

I've been able to see bizarre things I could've never even imagined before like people flying on swords, or beasts larger than entire buildings!

I've also got a weird System that wants me to become an 'ultimate background character', and encountered a real protagonist!

Isn't this a lot better than before, when I just aimlessly rotated between a schedule of studying and working, just so I could continue living in a boring world?

And I'm sure things will get even more fun, and I'll see a lot more, once I get stronger!

Feeling exhilarated from the breakthrough, Zhang Wei couldn't sit still.

But sadly, the sky had already turned dark and the moon was hanging up above- Meaning that most people would be asleep.

It was to be expected though as by the time he finished his task it was late afternoon, and he had spent five whole hours to breakthrough.

After a while of contemplating what to do, a good idea popped up in his head.

Isn't it Friday today?

Heh, that means that those four guys are meeting up for their talking nights!

Usually, I wouldn't go to the meet-up as I'd be focused on cultivating or testing the System- Plus, who the hell wants to talk with a bunch of bored guys- but... Today calls for a celebration!

As he had determined his next actions, he opened up his window and hopped out!

There were four dormitory buildings in the servant compound, each had three floors- Zhang Wei's dorm on the ground floor and in the east dorm building.

His destination was at the north dormitory building on the ground floor, it was the location of Tan Lin's dorm- Tan Lin was also Zhang Wei's first friend.

It took Zhang Wei around fifteen minutes to arrive at Tan Lin's dorm, and he instantly knew which window to go to as light could still be seen seeping through the wooden window that had a sign saying 'Tan Lin's Divine Divinations' hanging on it.

As Zhang Wei got to the window, he knocked on the window sill three times and said,

"I anticipatedly await the day that Chef Pei comes back and cooks for us all day!"

A click could be heard after Zhang Wei said his phrase, and without hesitation, he pushed open the window and jumped in.

As soon as he got in, the ordinary room with only a candle providing light was revealed to him. 

Inside, were three people.

All of them were wide-eyed looking at Zhang Wei as if he were an exotic animal- They were clearly surprised by his appearance. 

As soon as he saw their expression, Zhang Wei frowned a little and said with a worried tone,

"What's with the shock?

Are you guys missing your fathers so much that you've mistaken me for him?

Sorry to tell you, but I don't accept having children as braindead as you lot."

Hearing him talk, all of them began oohing in amazement as if hearing him speak was a revolutionary thing, and completely ignored his joke as if it was passing air.

Just then, one of the three present, who had brown hair and eyes, turned to the person closest to the window and pointed at him saying,

"Tan Lin you sly f*cker!

Is this Jin Feng in disguise or something, because I'd much rather believe that is the truth rather than your scammy divination being accurate for once!"

After the brown-haired boy said that, the boy next to him, who had reddish hair and green eyes, joined in with the accusations and said,

"Yeah! That freak would rather meaninglessly breathe rapidly by himself every night than show up to our meetings!

I always knew there was something fishy about that ugly b*stard Jin Feng suddenly having a sneaky link in the maid compound, it seems like this is another trick of yours!"

Hearing all this, the boy who had blonde hair and blue eye and let Zhang Wei into the room frowned and said confidently as if he were challenging them,

"Hmph, Zi Hua, Tang Fen, you both have clearly underestimated this master of fate's power and are resorting to heinous slander!

I, Tan Lin, know well that you both don't want to buy me the quintuple beef feast tomorrow.

But you have no choice!

He is here, in flesh!

You can even personally inspect whether or not this guy truly is the freak we all know and despise!"

Zi Hua, the one with brown hair and eyes, stood straight up and approached the confused Zhang Wei.

Once he reached him he patted his shoulders and ruffled his hair for a moment.

After getting shoved away by Zhang Wei, he looked over to Tang Fen, the boy with reddish hair and green eyes, with a grim expression.

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"Tang Fen, I think that we may be done for."

Zhang Wei was just about to cut in and bring some form of normality back until Tang Fen dropped to the ground on his knees and said in disbelief,

"I-Impossible!

H-How could I p-possibly be willing to buy a degenerate like Tan Lin something as pricy and scrumptious as a quintuple beef feast?!

This has to be a horrid nightmare, otherwise, the heavens must be unjust!"

Silence suddenly filled the room.

That was when the confused and annoyed Zhang Wei looked over at the only person who didn't seem heartbroken and spoke again saying,

"Tan Lin, why are you scaring these dumbasses like this?

I told you that I was going for a breakthrough after work, and you know that every time I have a breakthrough I end up coming here."

As if they heard enlightening words from a sage, the two lifeless and depressed boys seemed to have rejuvenated as they sat back in the wooden seats they were sitting on and let out a relieved sigh.

Tang Fen even began muttering about how the heavens are just!

Tan Lin let out a disappointed sigh then grumbled,

"Tch, damn you, Zhang Wei!

I was about to get myself two hearty meals if you hadn't meddled in this!"

He laid back down on his bed and continued,

"Anyways, it's nice to see you again and congrats on the advancement. Grab one of the seats laying in the corner and sit down, we were just talking about how that old man Wei Changping must have a bountiful inheritance waiting for the fortuned one!

I mean come on, he looks like he's been stuck here since the beginning of time itself!"

Zhang Wei laughed and went to grab a chair, then once got it he sat down comfortably and asked,

"What, the old guy who always talks about the old days of the sect and stinks of fish all the time?"

All of them said at the same time,

"Yup."

Zi Hua added into the conversation saying,

"I've heard rumours from some of the seniors that say that old Wei's so in love with fish that he married a green-scaled spiritual tuna!"

Tang Fen also said,

"Do you guys think the tuna's in the inheritance, I wouldn't mind some fish for dinner, to be fair!"

Zhang Wei and the rest all started to chat about random topics. 

Some were about funny stories.

"Hey Tan Lin, remember that time when one of the newbies begged you to change their fate for a few meal tickets!"

"Ah yeah!

That guy was completely nuts!

He was going on and on about how he wanted me to help him become a true god-king that ruled the nine heavens, how he'd like a pet baby dragon god along the way, as well as a sword forged by the greatest blacksmith!

Hahaha! The funniest thing was that when I offered the bargain price of two chilli chicken feasts, a triple beef feast with quality rice, and a big bowl of rice, he instantly roared that I was asking for an outrageous amount and walked away with a beet-red face!"

Some were about depressing news.

"I actually can't believe that ultra-high value men like us have been one-upped by the ugliest man to grace this planet since time immemorial!

What does that b*stard Jin Feng have that we don't?"

"Brother Zi is too right, every time we, or almost anyone in the servant compound, tries to talk to a maid we are treated like scum!

Is it even our fault that we don't have wives yet?"

"I reckon we swallow our pride a bit and ask how that guy has done it!

Because although I don't fear death, I do fear growing old and musty without having a wife to look after me!"

And others were about serious events.

"Hey guys, the next servant tournament is in a few days!

I heard some people are betting high stakes this time, what are you guys gonna do?"

"I think I'll back off this time, I've made some good pocket change with divination scamming and I don't feel like going bust betting on the wrong guy!"

"Same as Tan Lin, I'll just sit back and watch."

Hearing the topic of the servant tournament come round, Zhang Wei was silent and immersed in his thoughts mean whilst everyone was chatting.

If I'm going by novel standards, isn't this going to be the time when Lin Fan enters the outer sect?

And If I'm going to be assisting the protagonist as a good background character, shouldn't I also go for an outer sect position?

But I've only just broken through to the 4th stage of foundation establishment!

But...It's not like there haven't been any 4th stage top tens.

In the servant courtyard, some of the old dogs were all powerhouses at the 6th or 7th stage of foundation establishment and had trump cards. His meagre 4th stage would normally get crushed before he got the chance to reach the top ten. 

But this didn't mean that there weren't any precedents of lucky individuals who got lucky matchups and reached the top ten.

Luck, huh?

Hmmm, I was planning on saving the luck boosters for later once I encounter a dangerous situation or auction house, but it seems like the System has given them to me for this reason.

But then again, even though it does hurt using those luck boosters, who says there aren't going to be even greater gains by stalk-following Lin Fan around?

Plus, hehehe, if I just bet everything I own on the protagonist wouldn't I make a pretty penny off it?

"Hey, Zhang Wei, what are you doing for this year's servant competition?

Everyone in the room looked at him, as he was the only one left to answer.

Zhang Wei smirked as he pointed to himself and said casually,

"Me?

What will I be doing?"

He took a momentary pause before saying arrogantly,

"I'll be entering the outer sect, so you best be preparing to cheer me on with all you've got!"

They all went wide-eyed again and shouted,

"WHAT?!"

...

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Author's notes:

Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

 

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