At a speed of “ten lines at a glance,” Lin Zichen flipped through the translation notes in his hands, studying the characters used in the Blood‑Tempering Art.

After a round of study, it felt like reading Classical Chinese from the general‑education classes of old.

Only, these were even more obscure—and even more concise—than Classical Chinese.

‘What era were these characters from? Several thousand years ago? Or… tens of thousands of years ago?’

Lin Zichen was very curious about this.

What made him even more curious was this: the Blood‑Tempering Art was clearly so powerful, so why had its lineage been cut off?

Was it the End‑of‑Dharma age—later eras whose environment no longer suited cultivation?

While Lin Zichen was pondering these things, Song Yuyan, now changed out of her yoga outfit and into a martial‑arts uniform, came in from outside and said, “Zichen, people from the Student Union are here for you. They’re waiting at the institute entrance.”

“Here for me?”

Lin Zichen was a little puzzled.

Pushing aside the fringe of hair at her brow, Song Yuyan said with a gentle tone, “I think they’re probably here to invite you to join the Student Union. After all, you were too outstanding in yesterday’s Opening Trial. As the strongest student organization, the Student Union will definitely want you.”

Hearing that, Lin Zichen figured the Student Union president must indeed be here for this.

But he wasn’t interested in the Student Union; he didn’t want any titles or positions.

Seeing his lack of interest, Song Yuyan smiled and said, “Student Union members get a monthly credit stipend and there’s usually not much to do. Joining is basically free profits. I suggest you accept.”

Lin Zichen’s brow lifted.

;A credit stipend?;

Fine—then he’d have to bring his talents to the Student Union.

With that thought, he hurried to the institute entrance so they wouldn’t be kept waiting.

At the entrance, he saw a group of men and women with overwhelming presence.

They were all upperclassmen. The biological pressure they emitted—the lowest among them was Ordinary Tier 7.

The strongest of them was the leader, the Student Union president—Zhou Xuehong.

The pressure coming off him had already broken past the Ordinary range and stepped into the Advanced range.

A bona fide Advanced Creature.

When Lin Zichen appeared, Zhou Xuehong introduced himself in an even tone, “Hello, I’m Zhou Xuehong, president of the Student Union.”

Although he had already introduced himself before the freshmen yesterday, he still gave Lin Zichen a brief introduction out of courtesy.

“Hello, President Zhou.”

Lin Zichen returned the greeting politely.

Zhou Xuehong disliked wasting time, so he skipped small talk and got straight to the point, “Your performance in the Opening Trial was exceptional and fits the Student Union’s recruitment criteria. I’m here to invite you to join the Student Union as a presidential seed—cultivated to be a future Student Union president. There are many benefits to joining. You can enjoy special treatments and rights not available to ordinary students. For example, special meal provisions three times a day, participation in school decisions big and small and a monthly credit stipend, etc.”

After he finished, Zhou Xuehong asked, “Are you interested in joining the Student Union?”

“Of course,” Lin Zichen said.

Zhou Xuehong nodded, then added, “You can join—but there’s a condition. You must abandon the Pureblood Human Path and choose the Gene Fusion path.”

“Why?”

Lin Zichen frowned, confused.

“The Student Union only accepts geniuses with a future,” Zhou Xuehong explained, “You’re gifted now, but if you don’t walk the Gene Fusion path, then no matter how gifted you are, you’ll end up ordinary.”

“I think the Pureblood Human Path has a future. I won’t end up ordinary,” Lin Zichen replied calmly.

“The Pureblood Human Path has no future,” Zhou Xuehong said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Then he added, “If it had a future, Dean Liu and Mentor Song wouldn’t be in such a miserable state.”

“President Zhou, must I take the Gene Fusion path to join the Student Union?”

“Yes.”

“Then forget it. I’m not joining.”

Tossing out those words, Lin Zichen turned and went back into the institute.

No matter how good the Student Union’s benefits were, could they compare to the Celestial Pavilion?

If he had to abandon the Pureblood Human Path to join, then there was no need to join at all.

Seeing Lin Zichen turn on his heel at a single disagreement, Zhou Xuehong froze.

He hadn’t expected Lin Zichen to be so decisive.

The surrounding Student Union members were also taken aback.

When they recovered, they started cursing one after another.

“This Freshman King must be brain‑damaged—dead‑set on the Pureblood Human Path. The brainwashing must have cleaned his brain out.”

“Won a Freshman King title and got cocky, huh.”

“With a newbie this dumb, he’ll have plenty of time to regret it later.”

“When he finally wakes up and wants to join the Student Union, it won’t be so easy.”

“President, I told you—the Celestial Pavilion’s brainwashing is strong. No need to waste time on him.”

“…”

Zhou Xuehong said nothing, just shook his head and quickly led the group away from the institute entrance to recruit other talents.

Talent without a future isn’t talent.

It’s—trash.

Since Lin Zichen refused to abandon the Pureblood Human Path, there was no point in recruiting him.

He hadn’t had high hopes anyway—he’d only come to try a little persuasion.

The result: Lin Zichen gave him no chance at all, walking away at the first disagreement.

What else could this be but the Celestial Pavilion’s brainwashing?

First there was Song Yuyan; now there was Lin Zichen—both had had their brains washed clean.

* * *

Elsewhere, when Lin Zichen got back inside, Song Yuyan immediately asked whether he had joined.

He told her what happened. She swore colorfully, furiously cursing the Student Union as a bunch of old fossils.

They were all about twenty years old, yet their thinking was so conservative—simply hopeless.

Near eleven in the morning, Liu Chuanwu, unseen all morning, finally arrived at the institute.

He had two dark circles under his eyes, his spirit flagging, looking as if he’d been wrung dry.

Seeing him like that, Song Yuyan couldn’t help feeling moved, “Dean, you’re truly great. To raise funding for the Pureblood Human Path, you don’t hesitate to sell your body day and night. If—no, when—the Pureblood Human Path makes a breakthrough, your name will be recorded in history!”

At that, the corner of Liu Chuanwu’s mouth twitched.

‘Can’t you compliment people properly? Would it kill you to leave out ‘sell your body’?’

With those four words, even ‘recorded in history’ started to sound like ‘recorded in a brothel.’

After a silent grumble, Liu Chuanwu turned to Lin Zichen and—voice a bit weak—advised, “Zichen, remember—women are roadblocks on the path of evolution. They’ll knock your bones and suck your marrow. If you can avoid women, avoid them.”

Lin Zichen only smiled and said nothing.

There was no way he was avoiding women.

Love between men and women is human nature.

More broadly, it’s biological nature.

Suppressing biological nature would only hinder evolution.

Once he and Shen Qinghan took that final step, he intended to revel every night—fully combining his physical strength with Shen Qinghan’s special constitution and savoring every moment of joy.

“Oh—Zichen, the school provides resettlement housing for the families of geniuses. They can even be arranged jobs inside the school. Do you want to bring your parents here?”

Liu Chuanwu added, “A genius like you will likely be targeted by cultists in the future. Your family could be dragged in. I suggest bringing your parents to the school as soon as possible.”

“I understand, Dean. I’ll go home this weekend and talk to them,” Lin Zichen said.

Liu Chuanwu nodded and continued, “Give me your phone. I’ll enable access for you to accept school missions.”

“Isn’t that only available starting the second semester of freshman year?” Lin Zichen asked, puzzled.

He’d read the student handbook and knew about the mission system.

Every day, the school posted various missions on the student app.

Some involved assisting on‑campus mentors with their work.

Some sent students off‑campus to assist law‑and‑order departments in arresting criminals.

Others tasked them with eliminating cultists or aberrant beasts outside school and so on.

Completing missions earned credits.

Freshmen, however, couldn’t accept missions in their first semester; they had to wait until the second.

“You’re already strong enough. There’s no need to wait. Start now—earn credits early. Don’t waste time you could be using to grow stronger.”

As he spoke, Liu Chuanwu enabled the mission permission on Lin Zichen’s phone.

About two minutes later, he handed it back, “All set. On the app home page, bottom‑right—tap through to the mission screen.”

Lin Zichen took the phone and opened the mission page, curious to see the postings.

At that moment, Song Yuyan said, “Every week I go off‑campus to take missions and earn credits. You can come with me to learn the ropes and build experience.”

“Thanks in advance, Sister Yan,” Lin Zichen said.

“What thanks? Don’t be so formal. Seniors should look after juniors. In a while I’ll take a mission to eliminate aberrant beasts and show you the world.”

Song Yuyan smiled, then added, “Even if your Sister Yan fades into the crowd compared with top geniuses, against ordinary folk I’m still very strong. Below Advanced, I’m invincible. If it’s Ordinary‑tier aberrant beasts—bring as many as you like; I’ll kill as many as there are.”

“Absolutely,” Lin Zichen said with a grin.