After six days and seven nights of absorption and refinement, Eric Carter was gratified to find that he had managed to cultivate internal energy in his dantian and qi sea from nothing. Although it was still very faint, to be able to reach this level of internal energy cultivation within a few days without any assistance was already extremely fast, mainly thanks to the profoundness of the "Yue Moon and Rising Sun Heart Method".

“小易, get up, it's the first day of school today, hurry down and have breakfast.”

Hearing his mother's call from downstairs, Brian Cooper replied helplessly, “Coming.”

After hastily finishing breakfast, and under his mother's urging, Brian Cooper reluctantly left the house.

“This identity as a middle school student is really a bit troublesome!” After stepping out, Eric Carter sighed bitterly to himself, “For now, I’ll just keep Brian Cooper’s identity. After all, I’ve taken over this child’s body, and that’s a huge favor I owe. Before I help him fulfill his unfulfilled wish, there’s no way I can just walk away.”

In the cultivation world of Central China, Eric Carter was famous for his arrogance, and he certainly had the qualifications to be so. Whether righteous or evil, he treated everyone the same, even the leaders of both the righteous and evil sides of the cultivation world—Eric Carter would not give them the slightest bit of face.

However, he was the type who responded to kindness, not force. In the past, the infamous Old Demon of Southern Border once tried to force Eric Carter to forge a magic treasure for him. In the end, he was worn down and killed by Eric Carter’s repeated attacks with more than a dozen top-tier magic treasures.

To be honest, the Old Demon of Southern Border’s cultivation was definitely above Eric Carter’s, but in the world of cultivators, the key to victory often doesn’t lie in one’s own strength. If two people are close in strength, the one with a superior magic treasure will almost always win. What’s more, Eric Carter didn’t just have one powerful treasure—he owned six of the top ten magic treasures in Central China. Let alone the Old Demon of Southern Border, even the leader of the demonic sect, the Patriarch of Heavenly Demons, wouldn’t dare challenge Eric Carter lightly.

After this incident, almost all cultivators who hoped Eric Carter would forge treasures for them became even more respectful, offering materials far beyond what was needed, and answering every question, fulfilling every request. As long as Eric Carter agreed to forge a treasure for them, no matter how difficult the condition, they would agree without hesitation.

Besides these people, Eric Carter would also forge treasures for another group—his sect or cultivators to whom he owed favors, doing so unconditionally. Though Eric Carter was arrogant, he was absolutely clear about gratitude and grudges. Anyone who had shown him kindness would be repaid tenfold or even a hundredfold.

Back then, in the Central China cultivation world, if you went out and said, “Sect Master Chu of the Treasure Forging Pavilion owes me a favor,” it was definitely something to be proud of! Even when flying on a light beam, you’d hold your head high and strut with confidence.

With this kind of personality, Eric Carter felt that the favor he owed Brian Cooper was simply too great, and it would not be repaid in a short time.

Anyway, Eric Carter was not in a hurry to retreat from the world to cultivate. First, because he hadn’t even completed Foundation Establishment yet; second, because he planned to use the financial empire he built during his years of secular training thirty years ago to fund his costly cultivation path. According to Eric Carter’s plan, until he reached the Nascent Soul stage, he really had to stay in the mortal world, continue playing the role of a student, and treat it as a worldly experience.

Chapter Four: Placement Exam

Just as he walked into the classroom, he heard a crisp, girlish voice calling his name, “Brian Cooper...”

After putting down his schoolbag at his seat, Eric Carter nodded at the girl who had just called him—his deskmate, and the original owner of this body’s first love, Emily Baker.

Today, Emily Baker was wearing a purple floral long dress paired with a white sweater, looking especially pure and lovely. From a teenager’s perspective, she was definitely the princess in the hearts of many peers.

Seeing Brian Cooper respond to her so coldly, she pouted her cute lips and said, “After you gave me your number on the second, we only spoke for a couple of sentences before you hung up. Then you disappeared for five days like you vanished from the world. I called your house and no one answered, even went to your place and knocked but no one opened the door. Are you planning to ignore me?”

Brian Cooper just shrugged noncommittally and said, “It’s nothing like that. I wasn’t feeling well these past few days, so I stayed home to rest.” To be honest, up to now, Eric Carter still found it hard to accept his current teenage identity. In a room full of boys and girls barely in their teens, he always felt a bit out of place.

“The biggest wish of this body’s original owner was to get into the best university in Shanghai and win a full scholarship. If I help him fulfill this wish ahead of time, I won’t have to come to school anymore...” he thought to himself, already deciding what he would do in today’s placement exam.

Seeing the boy show no reaction to her grievances, Emily Baker said angrily, “If I’d known you were so heartless, I wouldn’t have shouted for help by the river that day, letting you, this heartless...”