Zhang Ping gained a lot from practicing with Zhou Jielin.

After the class, Zhang Ping found that Wang Jieming’s face was badly bruised.

It was clear that the Adventurer who sparred with Wang Jieming had a bad temper.

But this was normal.

Others had paid a high tuition to learn, aiming to gain a better chance for survival when they left Mingzhu city to venture.

Who wouldn't want to spar with a genius to improve their abilities?

It was no surprise that someone like Wang Jieming, as a partner, would cause frustration.

Zhang Ping and Zhou Jielin got along well, but that was because Zhang Ping’s Monkey King Style was better than Zhou Jielin's, offering plenty to learn from.

Because of this, Zhou Jielin was willing to share basic knowledge that older Adventurers knew with Zhang Ping.

The last thing anyone wanted was to be paired with someone who couldn’t improve, becoming a mere sparring partner for the other.

"Are you okay?" Zhang Ping asked, looking at Wang Jieming.

Wang Jieming shook his head slightly, then forced a smile and said, "I’m fine, just didn’t learn much. I’m not sure if I’ll learn it in five days."

He had expected there would be some teaching today.

But from start to finish, Bai De didn’t seem interested in repeating the lessons. Instead, he only stepped in to correct some of the apprentices’ mistakes during sparring.

Most importantly, Bai De hadn’t taught Wang Jieming again.

It reminded Zhang Ping of some teachers from his past life, who only focused on the good students and completely ignored the poor ones.

If this continued for the next few days, Wang Jieming would definitely not learn the Monkey King Style.

Zhang Ping thought for a moment and asked, "Do you have free time around noon?"

"Noon? Yes, I have some." Wang Jieming responded after a brief pause.

"Then come find me. Do you know Iron Soul? You can come there, and I’ll teach you Monkey King Style. Whether you can learn it or not depends on you." Zhang Ping invited.

"Iron Soul? Never heard of it, but I can come by." Wang Jieming immediately responded.

Zhang Ping nodded, "Great, then come find me tomorrow."

Iron Soul and Wang Jieming’s place were just a street apart, so it wouldn’t be hard to find.

After agreeing, the two of them headed back.

The next day, at noon, while Zhang Ping and Liu Tiefeng were eating, Wang Jieming showed up.

When Liu Tiefeng went upstairs for his nap, Zhang Ping began to teach Wang Jieming.

Wang Jieming’s learning ability was quite poor, so Zhang Ping broke the Monkey King Style moves down into smaller steps and taught them one by one.

Eventually, realizing this method wasn’t working, he decided to have him practice just one move for an hour, doing nothing else.

Surprisingly, this method worked. After an hour, Wang Jieming had learned the first move.

"Not bad, now let’s move to the next one. Watch me first, then do it with me," Zhang Ping said with a smile after seeing Wang Jieming master the first move.

The teaching continued into the evening, and Wang Jieming went home for dinner. They agreed to meet later at the martial arts gym.

Most martial arts gyms started at eight o'clock in the evening and ended at eleven, though some gyms began at six and ended at ten. Beastlord Punch Gym followed the first schedule.

Even though the teaching time was shorter by one hour, the fees were higher.

Zhang Ping hadn’t tried the courses at other martial arts gyms, so he wasn’t sure about their teaching standards. However, at least Bai De’s teachings were good. Aside from the unusual Wang Jieming, most of the apprentices could pick things up quickly.

The next two days were fairly uneventful.

The Slaughter Unit became more cautious in their operations against the Skyborn Fox, with Zhang Ping noticing that one was missing, but he couldn’t tell if it had been taken out or simply moved.

He didn’t ask Liu Sishan about it, continuing to identify newly discovered Skyborn Foxes and reassessing the previously identified ones, but he didn’t find anything unusual.

This left him unsure if it was a trap by the Skyborn Fox or just an unfortunate incident.

When the weekend arrived, Mingzhu city didn’t observe a two-day weekend, but many places still closed for the weekend.

Beastlord Punch Gym had a day off as well, and the apprentices didn’t have class.

In the morning, Zhang Ping didn’t practice forging, but instead tried again to forge a Pearl Blade. This time, he succeeded in making a qualified one—or at least, he felt it should be a success.

He walked up to Liu Tiefeng, who was smoking, and asked, "Grandpa Liu, do you think I succeeded?"

"Huh? What did you say? Where’s Dashan?" Liu Tiefeng looked up, confused.

Zhang Ping froze for a moment, then glanced at the shop entrance. It wasn’t long before Qiu Qiang appeared, carrying a lot of bags.

"Buddy, I’m back," Qiu Qiang said with a grin, placing the bags on the counter and sitting beside Liu Tiefeng.

"God, this time was a close call. I don’t know what happened, but there were a lot fewer wild beasts and Mutated Beasts outside. We had to head deeper into the northern forests, and eventually, we ran into a pack of wolves—all Mutated Beasts."

"Uncle Qiang, are you okay?" Zhang Ping looked at Qiu Qiang, noticing no obvious injuries.

Qiu Qiang gritted his teeth and rolled up his sleeve to reveal several gruesome wounds on his arm. He sneered, "The wolf pack wouldn’t let go of us, so I had to send the others ahead and stay behind. When you encounter wolves, especially Mutated Beasts, never let them surround you. It’s over if they do.

I had to fight while retreating, and then I ran into a group of mixed Barbarians. The first thing that happened was a wind blade hit me, almost cutting my waist. Fortunately, I had a disposable digging shovel. At that moment, I had no choice but to use it, even though it hurt.

The wolves couldn’t find any prey, so they attacked the Barbarians instead. I took the opportunity to slip away, and not only did I manage to escape unharmed, but I also got something good."

Saying that, he pulled out a green gemstone.

"Isn’t this a Wind Gem?"

Zhang Ping stared at the gemstone in surprise.

The Wind Gem wasn’t a real gem but a rare and valuable biological crystal.

Nearly every Mutated Beast that contained wind element energy could form a Wind Gem inside, and some Awakeners with wind-type talent could also form similar stones.

Wind Gems could store wind element energy and, with mental guidance, could release the stored energy to form wind blades or storms.

In fact, other elements had corresponding Elemental Gems.

For instance, Liu Sishan might have a Water Gem in her body, because her upgraded skill was Energy Compression, which was likely to form Elemental Gems.

However, just because there was an Elemental Gem in the body didn’t mean it could be easily extracted.

When a Mutated Beast or Awakener died, the Elemental Gem would generally dissipate along with the element. Only in rare cases would it remain.

Since Elemental Gems granted additional abilities, they had always been priceless in Mingzhu city—no one could buy them.

"These I pried off one of the Barbarians' weapons. I guess it's some revenge too," Qiu Qiang said proudly.

With that, he handed the Wind Gem to Zhang Ping, smiling generously. "Here, take a look. Real ones like this are rare, but there are plenty of fakes in the city. If you've never seen a real one, don’t rush to buy it. It’s easy to get scammed."

Zhang Ping carefully took the Wind Gem. His knowledge of Elemental Gems came partly from school and partly from Liu Tiefeng's teachings. However, even Iron Soul didn’t have a Wind Gem, only some fake ones they had collected by chance.

The moment he held the gem, Zhang Ping felt a slight chill in his palm. Upon further inspection, he realized a faint breeze emanated from the Wind Gem. The wind was incredibly subtle, almost like the faint ripples felt when one's hand is held just above water.

"The wind elemental energy is invisible inside living beings. Once released, it turns into wind. The only place where you can see its energy form is inside an Elemental Gem. Look closely at the center of the gem. Do you see that milky-white energy? That's the wind elemental energy," Qiu Qiang leaned in, explaining carefully.

Zhang Ping nodded. He indeed saw the milky-white energy.

"This thing is all about the feel and the eye for detail. Once you've seen the real thing, you'll be able to tell the fakes. Remember how it feels now, so you don’t get tricked in the future," Qiu Qiang added with a grin.

Zhang Ping responded with a nod and closed his eyes, focusing on the touch, hardness, and temperature of the Wind Gem.

Suddenly, he heard a faint "pop" sound. Then, a burst of static noise followed, similar to the sound a television makes when it loses signal and turns into a snow screen. Moments later, he heard numerous voices, both male and female.

His eyes widened, and he immediately activated his identification skill on himself.

【Identification Complete】

【Summoned Beast：Zhang Ping】

【Master：Zhang Ping】

【Race：Human】

【Potential：⭐⭐】

【Lifespan：89】

【Level：Beginner Level Awakener】

【Grade：3】

【Talent】

【Contract Gem: Consuming physical and mental energy to condense a Contract Gem. Once the target voluntarily accepts, their life, soul, and consciousness will be controlled by the Summoner, but they will also gain the Summoner's potential and luck. After the first use, subsequent uses will slightly enhance the user’s potential and have a 1% chance of awakening a new talent. PS. The talent abilities gained by Summoner Zhang Ping, derived from overdrawn intelligence, potential, and luck, are extremely powerful, but they also carry a great flaw—ambition may not always be a good thing.】

【Absolute Command: You have absolute control over Summoned Beasts. Your orders are unconditionally obeyed.】

【Absolute Obedience: You must obey the Summoner's orders without question.】

【Strategic Identification Skill: Can identify targets and has a very small chance of acquiring target information. The smaller the strength gap between the two parties, the higher the success rate of obtaining information. The first Identification Complete increases the chance of subsequent successful identifications of the same target. PS: A talent ability born from the curiosity of Summoned Beast Zhang Ping and Summoner Zhang Ping.】

【Night Walker: Gain Night Vision, significantly reduced presence at night, dramatically increased speed, reduced weight, and complete invisibility in shadows.】

【Fire Eater: This ability allows the user to recover stamina by consuming flames and convert excess fire into elemental energy stored within the body. Upon releasing this energy, the user temporarily gains the Flame Wreath effect, which lasts until the stored fire energy is depleted.

Additionally, this ability gradually enhances the user's resistance to high temperatures.

PS: Potential is merely potential. Only when it is realized as strength does it become true power.】

【Wind Whisperer: The wind will bring you all kinds of messages, whether you want to know them or not.

PS: There is no wall that the wind cannot blow through, and no secret the wind does not know.】

...

It really is a new talent, Zhang Ping thought to himself, feeling a bit like he wanted to complain. Was the chance of awakening a new talent really just one percent?

However, 'Wind Whisperer' was a passive skill. He couldn't control when it activated or deactivated, meaning that the information brought by Wind Whisperer was something he could only passively receive.