How Did the Reborn Empress Become My Bootlicker? - Chapter 20:

Chapter 20: Instant Comprehension! A-Grade Combat Skill – Nine-Slaying Spear, Perfect Mastery!

Madam Shangguan acted with remarkable efficiency. Before long, she had already sent people to deliver the additional “resource supplies” that Su Yuan and Xu Anyan had requested.

As the doorbell rang, both Su Yuan and Xu Anyan stepped out of their rooms, bumping into each other in the hallway.

They exchanged a glance, then each looked away.

Neither of them was surprised. In the absence of Xu Qingling—their shared connection—there was practically no communication between the two.

They arrived at the door at the same time, took their respective resource boxes from Madam Shangguan’s delivery personnel, then turned and returned to their rooms.

From beginning to end, the entire exchange flowed smoothly—no awkwardness, no words.

True strangers who were once familiar.

…

Inside the room, Su Yuan opened his second resource box of the day.

Just like the official daily supply, this one also contained an item list:

20 Level-2 Source Crystals
10 vials of 1st-stage Ferocious Beast Nutrient Essence
A-grade combat skill – Nine-Slaying Spear – Combat Skill Soul Imprint
A-grade combat skill – Singularity Source Shield – Combat Skill Soul Imprint
A-grade combat skill – Shadow Flash – Combat Skill Soul Imprint

“Level-2 Source Crystals?” Su Yuan’s eyes lit up.

A single Level-2 Source Crystal contained ten times more Source Energy than a Level-1 crystal, and with significantly purer energy.

While absorbing Level-1 crystals, some time was needed to filter out impurities. In comparison, Level-2 crystals had far fewer impurities and were easier to absorb, hence their market value wasn’t just ten times higher—it was fifteen times more!

One Level-2 Source Crystal sold for up to 45,000 yuan on the market!

“She really is a super-rich woman…”

A regular Awakening Stage cultivator needed 20 Level-1 Source Crystals to complete one cycle of [Source Energy Full Body → Condensed Aperture].

But with Su Yuan’s powerful physique, he needed five times more Source Energy than the average person—meaning 100 Level-1 Source Crystals just to form one Source Aperture!

20 Level-2 Source Crystals were equivalent to 200 Level-1 crystals—enough for him to condense two Source Apertures and reach 2nd stage Awakening completion!

“There’s a reason behind the saying: ‘Martial cultivation requires wealth.’ If you don’t buy Source Crystals to aid your cultivation and only rely on the scattered Source Energy in space, you’ll never reach anywhere in your lifetime.”

“For an average Awakening cultivator to condense nine apertures and break through to the 1st stage, it would take 180 Level-1 crystals, totaling 540,000 yuan. Most families simply can’t afford it.”

“As for me, that’s 2.7 million yuan… what a money pit!”

Su Yuan couldn’t help sighing.

Even with the inheritance his parents had left behind, it wasn’t nearly enough to cover this kind of resource burn.

Even the national SSS-grade talent resource allocation was far from sufficient.

That’s why he needed a rich sponsor… No, wait!

What sponsor?

He provided value too! With his powerful physique, he was helping her revive the existence of “Qi.”

She supplied him with resources to aid his rapid growth.

This was a fair trade between him and Madam Shangguan!

“Besides the Level-2 Source Crystals, there’s also 1st-stage Ferocious Beast Nutrient Essence. This stuff is way more effective than the blood extract. One vial is nearly 80,000 yuan…”

Su Yuan picked up one vial, popped the cap, and chugged it down!

If an outsider saw this, they’d probably be scared stiff!

Even the blood-based nutritional extract had to be sipped slowly by most people.

And the nutrient essence? It had to be heavily diluted just to be consumed in micro-amounts!

But Su Yuan?

Drank it like it was water. Like it was nothing.

That was because, with his physique enhanced by the Ancient God Bloodline, Su Yuan’s body was unbelievably powerful!

The nutrient essence barely had time to wreak havoc before it was instantly devoured by the countless ferocious Ancient God cells within him.

“Awesome!”

While his cells digested the essence, Su Yuan didn’t immediately start absorbing the Source Crystals. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the three Combat Skill Soul Imprints.

Combat Skill Soul Imprints—

They were smooth jade-like discs about the size of a coin, glowing faintly.

Just by pressing them to the center of the forehead, the combat skill stored within would be instantly engraved into one’s mind.

Su Yuan took each of the three Soul Imprints and pressed them to his brow one by one.

Soon, the contents of all three skills were deeply etched into his memory. The glow on the imprints faded—meaning they could no longer be used.

“Three combat skills…”

“But only one Insight Card.”

“Which one should I use it on?”

Su Yuan thought for a moment and ultimately decided to use it on the offensive skill—Nine-Slaying Spear!

Offense was the best defense!

As long as you killed the enemy before they could even attack, there was no need for defense or evasive techniques.

And Nine-Slaying Spear was one of the most elite among A-grade combat skills!

With that decision made, Su Yuan took out the [Combat Skill Insight Card] from his system backpack, selected [Nine-Slaying Spear], and activated it!

[Ding! Used 1 Combat Skill Insight Card. Your mastery of A-grade combat skill – Nine-Slaying Spear – has been raised to Perfect level!]

BOOM!

Sudden enlightenment!

Like ascending to the heavens!

With his powerful physique, even though he was still at the Awakening Stage, with a spear in hand, he could now easily kill any 1st stage martial artist!

“Hoo—”

Feeling the thrill of instant mastery, Su Yuan had the urge to do a few more draws.

If only he could draw more [Insight Cards], how wonderful that would be.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough Emotion Points for that right now.

“Back to cultivating!”

“Once my body is filled with Source Energy, I’ll need time to compress it and form the apertures. That’s the perfect time to hit the Ferocious Beast Garden, act cool, and harvest some Emotion Points!”

With that thought, Su Yuan resumed cultivation.

…

In the next room, Xu Anyan handed the Level-2 Source Crystals to her Shadow Attendant for absorption.

She, on the other hand, examined the combat skills she had just acquired.

Nine-Slaying Spear, Singularity Source Shield, Shadow Flash.

Currently, she could easily stack three layers of force. Holding a spear, she could stab three consecutive times—this counted as [Basic].

When she could stack five layers and stab five times, that would be [Proficient].

Seven stabs—[Advanced].

And [Subtle] required nine consecutive strikes.

She was confident.

Before the first system comparison arrived, she would cultivate [Nine-Slaying Spear] to the [Subtle] level.

Looking at [Singularity Source Shield]—

Though her body was still weak, her control over Source Energy far surpassed what her current stage should allow.

Therefore, her starting mastery of [Singularity Source Shield] was already at [Advanced].

As for [Shadow Flash], the movement-type skill—

With a little practice, she could also reach [Subtle] easily.

Once all three A-grade combat skills reached [Subtle] level, she truly couldn’t imagine how she could possibly lose in the system’s power comparison.

…

Later that evening, Xu Qingling returned home from work.

When she found out that both Su Yuan and Xu Anyan had awakened SSS-grade talents, she froze on the spot.

In her eyes, whether they awakened talents or not, she had already decided to give her all to support and raise them.

But both of them had SSS-grade talents?

Was this some kind of joke?

The news was so overwhelming that even while cooking, she felt like she was in a daze, as if wrapped in fog, like everything was unreal.

She herself had no martial talent. Back when she had condensed nine Source Apertures, she was never able to break through to the 1st stage. Her genes gradually deactivated, her Source Energy dissipated, and she became an ordinary person.

But now, Xiao Yuan and Xiao Yan had suddenly turned into top-tier prodigies?

…

After dinner, Su Yuan—as usual—tried to help Xu Qingling with the dishes, but she refused.

“Xiao Yuan, you’re a top-tier talent now. Go focus on cultivating. Don’t worry about these chores…”

Su Yuan said with a helpless smile, “Aunt Xu, this won’t take long. It won’t affect anything.”

But Xu Qingling wouldn’t budge no matter what he said.

Just as neither side could convince the other, a shadow silently appeared beside them.

Xu Anyan stood up from the table and said calmly, “Let it wash.”

With that, she turned and walked back to her room.

The Shadow Attendant began picking up dishes from the sink, carefully and patiently cleaning them.

Xu Qingling widened her eyes in amazement, staring at the figure that bore a striking resemblance to Xu Anyan.

“This… isn’t this a bit of a waste of talent?”

Su Yuan chuckled, “Of course not.”

As he spoke, he reached out and gently patted the Shadow Attendant’s shoulder. “Keep it up. Do a good job.”

The Shadow Attendant trembled slightly, but didn’t reply.

…

In her room, Xu Anyan’s footsteps suddenly paused. Her beautiful brows slowly furrowed.

“This is…”

“Yang Radiance Aura?”