The zombie clone’s movements remained stiff, struggling to condense imprints in its palms step by step.

It took nearly half an hour.

When the entire process was finally completed, a line of game hints appeared on Fang Heng’s retina.

[Hint: The player’s zombie clone has completed imprint cultivation (extremely inefficient). The player’s current mission progress +0.0001%.]

It worked!

Although the zombie didn’t have the mental strength to coordinate with the flow, and the game rated it as extremely inefficient, it still completed the cultivation and contributed progress toward the mission.

With that, he could fully utilize a large group of zombies to conduct cultivation!

Fang Heng raised his head and looked around.

In just over two days, while he had been cultivating, the basement had already been privately expanded by the zombies. They had even dug down four more floors.

Time to begin!

The zombies swayed and began dividing.

One into two, two into four...

In just moments, the basement filled with a dense horde of zombies, all twisted into strange poses as they awkwardly condensed imprints in front of them.

Done!

Fang Heng arranged the zombies to begin imprint cultivation, then slowly closed his own eyes again to focus on his own training.

...

"Yo, morning. What’s wrong? Didn’t sleep well?"

"Ah, yeah."

At the Noel Clan company building, Mu Shunan forced a weak smile and greeted a fellow martial artist walking toward him.

He hadn’t slept well for the past few days. Every time he closed his eyes, he thought of Fang Heng’s terrifying talent in Occult studies. It left him mentally drained.

Only after taking some sleeping pills last night did he finally feel a bit better.

He hadn’t seen Fang Heng in the last two days.

Hopefully, his cultivation was going smoothly?

Forget it, stop thinking about it.

Mu Shunan shook his head, trying to push those thoughts out of his mind.

He still needed to go to the armory to discuss strategies for the upcoming tournament match with some companions.

High-level competitions often involved the distribution of interests and loyalties. All factions across the star domains took them extremely seriously and went all out.

"Hm? Fang Heng?"

Walking through the hallway, Mu Shunan suddenly spotted Fang Heng and An Qian approaching, and was a bit surprised.

"Brother Mu, how are you? Didn’t sleep well?" Fang Heng waved and greeted him. Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, he added, "I know a few methods for treating insomnia. Want to give them a try?"

Weird.

Fang Heng thought it was strange that someone like Mu Shunan, who had already reached the transcendent level, seemed so troubled that he looked sleep-deprived.

Fang Heng thought Mu Shunan was a pretty decent person and was happy to help.

Psychic suggestion from psychic studies had remarkable effects in treating insomnia.

As long as Mu Shunan was willing to cooperate.

Natural science’s tranquility spell could also ease tension and help with restful sleep.

And by arranging the room according to astrology star alignments—

With these three methods combined, a little insomnia wouldn’t be a problem at all.

"No, no, it’s fine. I did have something on my mind, but it’s already settled now."

Mu Shunan thought to himself, Aren’t these dark circles your fault, you brat? He forced a laugh and asked, "I heard you’ve been holed up at home cultivating. What brings you here today?"

"Mm, I arranged a one-on-one alchemy lesson. The instructor is also a martial artist recruited by the Noel Clan, like us. They had time today, so I came over to learn."

Mu Shunan was stunned for a moment. His heart suddenly skipped a beat. His barely stabilized spiritual core felt like it was about to crack again, so he quickly asked, "You’ve already advanced to grandmaster-level Occult?"

"Not yet."

After grinding nonstop for three days, plus the assistance of the zombie clone horde, he had reached 45% completion.

Almost there.

At this pace, he could fully finish the progress within a week.

Of course, once he advanced to grandmaster-level Occult, he would still need time to absorb natural science energy and convert it into Occult energy before he could approach the bottleneck for transcendent breakthrough.

Ever since arriving at the Noel Clan, Fang Heng had clearly felt himself growing stronger every day.

And he didn’t even have to roam around scheming and fighting for survival like before.

It felt great.

He was full of motivation.

Mu Shunan felt slightly relieved.

Good thing he hadn’t advanced yet.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to sleep again tonight.

Fang Heng smiled and explained, "It’s hard to book a high-tier alchemy instructor, so I made the trip here."

"Oh, alchemy, huh?" Mu Shunan thought for a moment and asked, "Is your instructor Nasir?"

"Yes, you know him?"

Mu Shunan looked at Fang Heng with an increasingly strange expression.

Last time, he sensed an elemental mental strength surge in Fang Heng and thought he was studying elemental science. And now it turned out he also had achievements in alchemy?

After all, among the academic disciplines, alchemy was considered rather niche, much less popular than Occult studies.

And Nasir only taught transcendent-level alchemy to outsiders, didn’t he?

Could this kid...

Already reached grandmaster level in alchemy?

There were outsiders present in the building, so Mu Shunan felt it would be impolite to directly ask Fang Heng about his academic level. He held back his curiosity and smiled, "Yeah, I’m an old friend of Nasir’s. Just mention my name to him—he’ll help you out."

"Thanks! I’ve got a session scheduled with Instructor Nasir now, so we’ll chat next time."

Fang Heng cupped his fists toward Mu Shunan and left for the cultivation room.

Mu Shunan watched Fang Heng’s departing figure and felt like ten thousand ants were crawling in his heart.

It was itching like crazy.

D*mn it!

He really wanted to go and watch!

Mu Shunan had a premonition that Fang Heng’s talent wasn’t just limited to Occult.

He was probably terrifyingly gifted in every academic discipline.

Meanwhile, Fang Heng had just stepped into the scheduled cultivation room and looked at the middle-aged man sitting inside.

Nasir looked like someone with deep life experience, with long flowing hair and artistic clothing that gave off an air of freedom.

"Instructor Nasir."

Nasir waved his hand and said casually, "We’re all martial artists working under the Noel Clan. No need for formalities—just call me Nasir. You’re Fang Heng, right?"

"Yes."

"Good." Nasir looked Fang Heng up and down, nodding repeatedly. "I was out of town for a while. When I came back, I heard there was an interesting guy around. Must be you."

"Alright, let’s skip the small talk and get started."

Fang Heng sat across from Nasir with a serious expression and said, "Please don’t hold back your teachings."

Among all the academic disciplines—except for necromancy and sealing arts—Fang Heng was most confident in alchemy.

After all, he had read a lot of related books, done extensive research on ancient tomes, and had the bonus of the omniscient eye in his right eye.

His theoretical knowledge and experience were fairly complete.

He had a solid foundation.

He shouldn’t need much remedial instruction.