"Kid, you’re usually so quiet that you can’t even squeeze a fart out of you, but I didn’t expect you to be so capable." As soon as he walked into the dorm, instead of a warm welcome, he was greeted by a question from a somewhat sleazy-looking roommate. This roommate, named Samuel Turner, hooked one arm around William Bolton's neck and, in a suggestive tone, asked, "That beautiful girl who bumped into you, is her name Grace Foster? Do you have her phone number?"

William Bolton frowned and reached up to remove Samuel Turner's arm.

William Bolton used to be very self-conscious and was often the butt of jokes among the dorm mates. Although they didn’t openly bully him, they would take advantage of him in subtle ways.

Samuel Turner hooked his arm around again, giving William Bolton a hard squeeze and said, "Do you have her number or not? Tell me, did you crash into her car on purpose?"

"Take it off." William Bolton turned his head and smiled at Samuel Turner, but there was already a hint of impatience in his tone.

"What?" Samuel Turner was stunned for a moment, and the other roommates who were waiting for the story to continue were also taken aback. None of them expected the usually silent William Bolton to react this way.

But William Bolton didn’t bother talking anymore. He grabbed Samuel Turner's arm, gave it a quick twist, and with a yelp, Samuel Turner clutched his hand and stumbled back three steps.

"William Bolton!" Samuel Turner shouted, raising his fist to punch William Bolton, but before he could, William Bolton kicked him in the stomach. Samuel Turner staggered back several steps and landed on the floor with a thud.

The others were completely dumbfounded. Was this really William Bolton? How did he come out of the hospital a completely different person?

"Let’s keep it peaceful, guys." Sensing things were getting out of hand, the others quickly stepped in to break up the fight. One of them pulled Samuel Turner up and said to William Bolton, "Hey William Bolton, weren’t you a bit too rough? We’re all brothers here, is this really necessary?"

"When have you ever treated me, William Bolton, as a brother?" William Bolton sneered, and the others immediately looked embarrassed.

Samuel Turner gritted his teeth, wanting to charge at him again, but the others held him back tightly. After holding in his anger for a while, he finally said, "Fine, you said it yourself. William Bolton, just you wait."

William Bolton sighed softly. It seemed that school wasn’t such a great place to stay after all.

He needed to find a quiet place. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind—he could rent an apartment off campus.

He hadn’t had money before, but now he had a bank card.

Chapter 005: The Ethereal Sword Intent

No sooner said than done, he went to the bank on campus and withdrew five thousand yuan. William Bolton went alone to look for an apartment in a nearby residential complex.

William Bolton didn’t have many requirements—just a balcony facing east, the higher the floor the better, preferably the top floor for convenience.

With money, everything is easier. Soon, William Bolton found a place that met his needs.

Apartments near the school were mostly rented out to students, so the prices were relatively cheap. Still, this two-bedroom apartment cost a thousand yuan a month.

William Bolton paid three months’ rent in advance and signed a contract with the landlord.

Three months’ rent was three thousand, plus a one-thousand-yuan deposit for the apartment’s fixtures, leaving William Bolton with a thousand yuan. He went to a nearby mall to buy a few quilts and some daily necessities, and moved in that very night.

He was no longer the same as before—his body was still fragile, so he needed all the basic necessities.

That night, William Bolton sat cross-legged on the balcony, meditating and gathering energy while deep in thought.

Meditation and energy gathering is a basic skill for every cultivator. Only when the spiritual energy in the body accumulates to a certain level can one begin to practice cultivation techniques.

William Bolton had already started gathering energy during his month in the hospital, so he had built up a bit of a foundation. Plus, the high floor and open balcony made it even more suitable for William Bolton to cultivate, and his efficiency was much higher than before.

The path of cultivation is divided into six major realms: Purification, Artifact Control, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Heavenly Tribulation, and Ascension! Each realm is further divided into nine levels.

What William Bolton was considering now was what kind of cultivation technique he should practice.

The original William Bolton was a rogue cultivator, with no master to guide him and no sect advantages. All his strength and cultivation path were figured out step by step on his own. Along the way, it was full of thorns—one wrong step could mean the destruction of his soul. But William Bolton made it through and eventually became a third-level Nascent Soul expert. You should know, at that time, even the most powerful righteous cultivators were only at the eighth level of Nascent Soul.

That was already quite an achievement.

But now William Bolton felt that what he had figured out on his own might not be the right way, because ever since he entered the Nascent Soul stage, his cultivation speed had slowed down more and more. By the third level, he was completely stuck and couldn’t make any progress.

A famous cultivation technique must have been tested and refined by countless predecessors before being passed down. William Bolton didn’t have that advantage.

As he thought about it, another cultivation technique suddenly flashed through William Bolton's mind.