I Am A Prodigy
chapter-61

Chapter 61: Classics of Mysticism

Ever since the binding of the Prodigy System, it remained quiet. Ye Lingchen thought it could only help him raise his proficiencies, he never expected it to give out missions.

True to its name as the Prodigy System, the initial system binding was within his class. Now even the sudden mission was also issued within a class. Could it be that the teacher’s request earlier activated the mission?

Rather than being surprised, Ye Lingchen felt pressured.

He only had a month’s worth of time. If he failed the mission then the system will be unbound from him!

After enjoying the perks from the system, if he were to be unbound from it, that would be worse than killing him!

Furthermore, the rewards were sufficiently tempting too.

The ability to upgrade knowledge will be unlocked!

100 percent proficiency represented the complete mastery of the current world’s level in that field of knowledge. If he were to continue upgrading it, would that not mean that his knowledge will exceed Earth’s level?

In other words, if he unlocked the upper limit of a skill, he could potentially gain knowledge that was beyond this Earth?

He had to finish this mission no matter what!

At that time, Ye Lingchen’s system menu had a new tab for popularity. His current popularity was at 100,556. This should be the popularity he gained from gaming and TV series.

Following that was class time. The teacher explained how to produce memorable quotes and works of classics based on idioms and famous works.

‘Received guidance from Zhu Xia, literature proficiency +1.’

‘Received guidance from Zhu Xia, literature proficiency +1.’

‘Received guidance from Zhu Xia, literature proficiency +1.’

…

Ye Lingchen planned to read up on those classic works while he was listening to the lecture. He needed to boost his literature proficiency as soon as possible.

After the first session of class, the second session was additional mathematics.

Ye Lingchen’s proficiency that was stuck at 60 percent once again started rising.

The afternoon was free of classes!

University life was just relaxing!

Ye Lingchen declined the invitation to game in his dorm, then headed out of school.

At that point, his head was only filled with the mission. One month’s time was fairly short!

To an ordinary person, it was impossible to obtain 100,000 popularity in such a short time. However, Ye Lingchen acted in Legend of the Heroine with Xiao Feifei. Despite the popularity of the show, his popularity had barely reached 100,000.

Most importantly Ye Lingchen had to create a literary classic to obtain popularity!

Popularity gained from acting and gaming was useless for this matter!

A Literary classic!

Even if he managed to come up with it, he still had to go through publication. After publishing, it would still take time to grow. How can he gain 100,000 popularity in such a short time?

Ye Lingchen went to a bookstore nearby the campus first, going through the hottest literary works on the market.

Fantasy novels, urban novels, romance novels, Guo Jingming¹, Han Han², flipping through them quickly.

Although these could garner popularity, it was considered literary fast food, not even anything close to literary classics.

To be considered a classic, it had to be supported by a strong foundation!

It must be based upon reality, yet exceed reality. Moreover, it had to make a strong impression!

Amidst his mutterings, his gaze paused as he saw a thick and black book. On the spine was written in gold bolded characters: Secrets of Feng Shui!

Ye Lingchen’s eyes glowed as a potential solution started forming in his mind.

Mysticism was something people followed fanatically since ancient times. It even formed various myths of ancient gods.

Even in the current society, there were many believers of destiny, and praying to Buddha. Altering one’s fate with Feng Shui and determining your prospects through fortune-telling was all the more popular.

This can be considered a traditional heritage passed down from ancient Chinese culture.

Regardless of it being superstitious or dealing with spiritual beings, for it to be passed down generations and widely accepted by the populace, it surely had its reasons.

If he were to base his literary work on mysticism, then it should be considered a classical work right? Furthermore, a literary work dealing with mysticism should have no troubles when it comes to gaining popularity!

Just do it!

Ye Lingchen not only grabbed some books related to mysticism, but he also took a few books of the most popular horror novels home where he studied them intensively.

Mysticism. It originated over 4,600 years ago.

That was after Pangu split the world and Nuwa created mankind.

Chiyou wreaked havoc. With the help of God, the Yellow Emperor received the heavenly tome to subdue Chiyou’s demonic arts. With that, he slew Chiyou and conquered all under the heavens.

God was referring to the Mysterious Lady of the Nine Heavens — Lady Nuwa.

After the Yellow Emperor quelled the war, he appointed Cangjie to create the written words and recorded the various mysteries from the heavenly tome bestowed by the Mysterious Lady of the Nine Heavens. That book was the soul of mysticism: The Jade Script¹

Later on, this book was found by Jiang Ziya in the Kunlun mountains during the Zhou dynasty. He used the powers from the scriptures to assist the Zhou kingdom in annihilating his enemies, leading to the Zhou dynasty remaining in power for 800 years.

During the period of the Warring States, it fell into the hands of Guiguzi—Ancestor Wangchan.

He then passed the secret arts to his disciples—Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin, and Pang Juan. Each of his disciples defined an era during their times.

During the Han dynasty, Zhang Liang obtained the scriptures from Huang Shigong, bringing prosperity to the Han dynasty for 400 years.

By the times of the Three Kingdoms, it fell into the hands of Zhuge Liang, helping Liu Bei gaining one-third of the world.

Unfortunately, most of the contents of the Jade Script had been lost over time. The contents were also split into many sects.

To date, it could be roughly separated to mountain, medical, destiny, fortune, and palm sects. Generalized as the five schools of mysticism

The Jade Script was clearly not in Ye Lingchen’s possession. He was only reading up on books regarding Feng Shui, fortune telling, spirits.

‘Self-studying Secrets of Feng Shui, Feng Shui observation proficiency +1’

‘Self-studying Secrets of Feng Shui, Feng Shui observation proficiency +1’

‘Self-studying Physiognomy Reading, fortune-telling proficiency +1’

…

For an entire afternoon, Ye Lingchen’s understanding of mysticism skyrocketed. What was impossible to understand for an ordinary person was now peanuts to him. The beginnings of a plan started forming within his mind.

As the skies darkened, Ye Lingchen returned to the dormitory. He planned to use the entire night to polish his plan, getting it ready for publication the next day.

After all, time was limited. The earlier he published it, the quicker his popularity would grow.

The next day, he only had two sessions of class in the morning and one in the afternoon.

During that time, Ye Lingchen had finalized the main theme and sub-themes.

After his afternoon class, Ye Lingchen headed out of school straight away. He wanted to publish his work as soon as possible.

“Hold it right there!”

Unexpectedly, he was stopped by a young man at the school entrance.

This young man had a height of 185cm, wearing a white T-shirt and sported a buzz cut. His face was one of insolence and pride.

Ye Lingchen furrowed his brows, his gaze looked past the young man and fell upon two girls standing behind him. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

“You’re here for me?”

Of the two girls behind the young man, one of them was wearing a white dress with frills. She was tall and had a proud expression on her face. It was Li Muxue which Ye Lingchen had kissed before…