Establishing a school to capture the attention of certain individuals was temporarily set as the objective. The immediate problem Ye Wen faced was how to secure sufficient funds.

"Selling sheet music? That's clearly not enough!"

Although he didn't know precisely how many US dollars a professional manager named Nigel Bradley would spend to acquire his composition, he understood that even a highly regarded piece of music wouldn't fetch a fortune. The reason famous composers could sell their works for such high prices was not the music itself, but the reputation, the brand they carried.

Ye Wen currently possessed no such brand, and even if he did, it wouldn't be recognized in this world. Since Bradley called himself a 'professional' manager, he would undoubtedly negotiate with the utmost professionalism, fighting tooth and nail to drive the price down!

"Since I've already contributed the melody, I might as well contribute the entire song!"

A melody and a complete song are entirely different concepts, and the difference in price is astronomical. Ye Wen was short on cash, so it would be foolish to only offer the melody when a complete song could sell for much more, perhaps several times the price.

Furthermore, the capital he required was enormous. Copying one song or copying ten songs was fundamentally the same act of transcription. Thus, without the slightest hint of shame, he immediately wrote down the lyrics for twenty songs...

Yes, just the lyrics. He knew nothing of musical notation; how could he possibly draw staves and symbols on paper? Although he knew how these twenty songs were supposed to sound, having to translate all of it into written symbols on white paper... well, that wasn't Ye Wen's area of expertise.

This didn't mean Ye Wen was without a plan. At worst, he could sing these songs himself, have Bradley record them, and then find professional talent to transcribe the musical notation afterward. As for whether the transcribed music would match the original version, that was beyond his concern, nor did he wish to fret over it. His only consideration was how much income these twenty songs could generate.

"Perhaps it won't be enough to cover the cost of establishing the school, but as a base capital, this should suffice!"

Sitting in the café, Ye Wen sipped his juice while waiting for the professional manager. The waiter had already replaced his drink with at least ten different varieties, but that damned Bradley still hadn't shown up.

"If I weren't so utterly idle... why would I be sitting here basking in the sun?"

Looking out the window, the sun that had been high in the sky was gradually setting, turning the streets a soft amber. The number of patrons in the café also slowly dwindled. It was then that Ye Wen overheard a few waitresses whispering about him.

"Hey, that Asian guy is really handsome!"

"You're daydreaming again, Annie!"

"Isn't he handsome?"

"I don't deny that, but you know... in that regard, Yellow men... I don't think he could satisfy you!" This last remark nearly made Ye Wen spit out the juice in his mouth. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough to swallow it down, a tragedy might have unfolded in this small coffee shop.

However, a comment heard shortly after made Ye Wen laugh and cry at the same time: "Bonnie! Do you know how long he's been sitting there and how much he's drunk? Have you seen him go to the restroom? Even once?"

"..."

A moment of silence followed, and Ye Wen felt a touch of smug satisfaction. Just then, a man entered the doorway. The manager named Bradley rushed in, looking around anxiously until his eyes landed on Ye Wen, relief washing over his face. He then quickly sat down opposite him.

"Good God... you haven't left!"

"You are late by three hours, thirty-four minutes, and seven seconds... eight seconds... nine seconds..." As if to bolster his own credibility, Ye Wen flashed the nondescript N-brand mechanical watch he had somehow acquired on his wrist.

"My apologies, a thousand apologies! I am usually very punctual, but an unexpected situation arose at the last minute, and I didn't have your contact information with me!" Perhaps to add credibility, Bradley launched into an unending explanation: "I finally got Warner to agree to sign a band I recently discovered, but those jerks went back on their word, so I was busy handling that mess. I apologize for making you wait so long! To make amends, perhaps we could grab dinner first?"

Ye Wen waved his hand dismissively. It wasn't that he disliked eating, but some high-end Western restaurants were tedious, burdened by too many rules. He would rather sit at home eating bread with two women than suffer the ordeal of a formal restaurant. Of course, if his status and standing reached a certain level, he could naturally ignore all that nonsense. But until then, there was no need for him to rush over and play the clown for everyone to stare at.

"Let's just get straight to business. Food is irrelevant!"

"Is that so? Alright then!" Bradley shrugged and pulled a contract out of the bag beside him, handing it to Ye Wen. "You can look over the terms first. If you find them acceptable, you can sign, and I will issue the check immediately!"

Americans were unaccustomed to carrying large sums of cash; they preferred credit cards or checks. Ye Wen knew this, but he didn't look at the contract. Instead, he smiled and said, "Perhaps you should look at these first!"

Ye Wen pulled out a stack of papers from inside his jacket and placed them before Bradley. There were twenty sheets in total, one for each song!

When a puzzled Bradley took the papers, assuming they were Ye Wen's other compositions, he showed a bit of surprise when he realized they were not the musical scores he expected.

"These are...?"

"The lyrics for twenty songs. The one you wanted is among them!"

If there was anything more shocking to Bradley than twenty melodies, it was undoubtedly twenty complete songs! A song, unlike a mere melody, was a complete entity with suitable lyrics, meaning he wouldn't need to find someone else to write the words for the piece he was buying.

"You can write lyrics in addition to composing?"

Ye Wen wagged a finger. "Mr. Bradley, I think you have misunderstood something!"

"What?" Bradley looked up from the lyrics. "Aren't these lyrics written by you?"

"No, these lyrics are written by me. However, I cannot compose music. I just like to hum a few lines in my spare time. Originally, they were meaningless things, but over the years, I've compiled quite a few songs that I feel are decent. Paired with matching lyrics, they became my collection over the years... I haven't studied musical theory, so I can only give you the lyrics; I can't even write the score!"

Ye Wen shrugged. "If you want to know what these songs sound like, perhaps you can arrange a suitable venue where I can sing them for you one by one, and then you can find someone to reconstruct the musical notation!"

"This..."

The situation was unexpected, but after a moment of calculation, Bradley decided it wasn't a major issue. Setting aside the other nineteen songs, as long as he could acquire the one he desired, his objective would be met. He was confident that once he had that song, and his newly discovered band performed it, launching a superstar group would be no problem.

Ye Wen was unaware of Bradley's thoughts. He proceeded as originally planned, setting a time for their next meeting with Bradley, and then returned to his apartment.

A few days later, Bradley called, informing Ye Wen that everything was arranged. He had rented a recording studio, and as soon as Ye Wen was free, they could begin the trial singing and recording. Ye Wen, who was beginning to feel stir-crazy from boredom, naturally rushed over and thoroughly stunned everyone present.

"God, you are too good to me; you've gifted me so many great songs at once!" Bradley listened to all the songs with visible excitement and immediately decided on the spot: he wanted all twenty of Ye Wen's songs.

Bradley's decisive style of doing business also surprised Ye Wen slightly, causing him to view the man with a bit more respect. "These are all songs that will be quite popular in the near future. This guy realizing they are all good songs shows he truly has some vision!"

The songs Ye Wen sang were varied, but without exception, they were all famous songs from the coming years—otherwise, he wouldn't know them well enough to sing them and remember them so clearly.

Signing the contract and taking the check, Ye Wen concluded with a rather nonchalant statement: "As for the lyricist and composer, credit whoever you like. I don't care in the slightest!"

Because of Bradley's straightforwardness and generosity, Ye Wen happily sold the twenty songs, even offering to let them omit his name as the lyricist and composer.

However, perhaps Bradley had other aspirations for Ye Wen, wanting to secure this musical genius who could produce twenty songs at once. Not only was he generous with the price, but he also promised additional bonuses if Ye Wen's songs achieved great success.

Ye Wen shrugged, not placing much value on such verbal promises. Carrying a small bag containing thirty thousand dollars (Ye Wen was undocumented and dared not accept a check, so he specifically requested cash), selling each song for only fifteen hundred dollars already made him quite satisfied (after checking some information, songs written by unknown figures sometimes sold for thousands). At least for a considerable time ahead, he wouldn't have to worry about living expenses.

Returning to the apartment, Ning Ruxue and Huayi had once again called Tommy to bring over a stack of martial arts TV show videotapes. The two women could now communicate normally in English, although their speed was still somewhat slow. They were thoroughly engrossed in watching, munching on popcorn. Having learned a few tricks, the two women had specifically asked Tommy to buy them some looser fitting trousers a few days prior, ensuring a pleasing sight when not actively training.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Ye Wen cleared his mind and began circulating his energy.

His internal power increased slowly every day. Besides the primordial violet energy flowing gently on its own, that persistent, undiminished core of crimson fruit essence was absorbed and digested bit by bit by his primordial violet energy each day, which in turn was used to strengthen his own being.

If things continued this way, even if Ye Wen stopped practicing, his power would continue to rise until that essence was completely absorbed.

But that wasn't the main point; Ye Wen wasn't focused on the growth resulting from mere passive activity. In the current environment, he lacked any urgent pressure to boost his strength. The group of werewolves he had encountered a few days ago were nearly annihilated with ease, leaving him somewhat puzzled about the true level of power in this world.

Simultaneously, the scarcity of ambient world energy prevented Ye Wen from advancing his cultivation through conventional training methods in this environment. He could only rely on the constant self-derivation of true energy through his core cultivation methods to improve his strength.

This was also why the two women weren't overly anxious about practicing. They only needed to allocate a small portion of their sleep time each day to properly temper the true energy that had suddenly surged and was still somewhat unrefined. After that, they had nothing else to do, hence their leisurely enjoyment of popcorn and television.

Besides observing the status of the crimson fruit energy cluster and the primordial violet energy, Ye Wen also checked on the Purple Star River Crystal. This object remained inside his body, and Ye Wen was still unsure exactly what it was.

"Is it perhaps like my Zixiao Sword? An energy aggregation mass?" Since his violet sword was becoming more substantial, he had given it a name. Considering it evolved from the Zixiao Dragon Qi illusory sword, and no longer carried the implication of dragons or illusory concepts, he simply named it the Zixiao Sword.

At the same time, Ye Wen noticed that the Purple Star River Crystal pillar within his body wasn't diminishing day by day. He surmised that once the crystal pillar completely vanished, transforming into a swirling mass of starry river energy within his body, his Purple Star River technique would be complete. However, in this environment, he couldn't guess how long this cultivation would take.

"Fortunately, I have that mass of crimson fruit essence; otherwise, relying only on my own cultivation, I'd likely be cultivating past the age of a hundred!"

The depleted ambient world energy not only caused certain techniques to fail to manifest visual anomalies unless a certain level of inner strength was utilized, but it also presented a massive hurdle for cultivation itself.

"Why does it feel like I was violently ejected from that other world, only to arrive in a place where the world's energy is so utterly sparse?"

A host of questions plagued Ye Wen, but the one that concerned him most was the silver ring on his finger, the one that had nearly caused him and his two women to perish.

Ever since he heard the notification indicating an upgrade completion, he had been constantly trying to study the ring. However, the item came with no instruction manual, and after much effort, he still hadn't discovered any change. Today, he decided to test whether the ability to summon secret manuals had changed.

Glancing at the door, it was still firmly shut; the two women were deeply absorbed in their show and unlikely to bother him soon. Following the method he was most accustomed to, he channeled his internal force into the ring. Suddenly, a distinct prompt echoed in his mind: "Detecting Hun Tian Bao Jian true energy, energy level extremely weak, compatible technique: White Cloud Smoke!"

Immediately, the true energy surging within him—like a raging flood—was frantically drawn out. Just as Ye Wen suspected his body was about to be emptied, the ring finally stopped, accompanied by a crisp ding. A white crystal pillar lay quietly on the floor beside the bed.

"This..."

Ye Wen picked up the white crystal pillar and stared blankly.

He still couldn't quite grasp what had happened. Why was the system so generous this time, giving him the very cultivation method for the Hun Tian Bao Jian that he desperately needed?

"Could it be?"

Recalling the prompt, Ye Wen glanced at the ring on his hand, then at the white crystal pillar in his other hand, and finally recalled the method he had used just now.

"I see now!"

When Ye Wen circulated his energy earlier, he hadn't focused his intent too much, so his true energy naturally flowed according to the strongest method Ye Wen currently possessed. The true energy left his dantian and completely transformed into Purple Star River kinetic energy before being sent into the ring.

The ring immediately detected that the energy was Purple Star River true energy and determined that Ye Wen was cultivating the Hun Tian Bao Jian technique. Furthermore, based on the current strength of his cultivation, it judged which level would be most suitable for him.

Having understood all this, Ye Wen held the White Cloud Smoke crystal pillar, tears welling in his eyes: "So, my current power level is only suitable for practicing the introductory level of White Cloud Smoke?"

He then recalled that time when, in a life-or-death situation, he channeled the violently surging crimson fruit essence into the ring, only to receive the cultivation crystal for Purple Star River, which was several levels higher than White Cloud Smoke...

"Doing that at the time was absolutely the right choice. Just how potent is that crimson fruit essence? This is terrifying!"

A portion of the crimson fruit essence allowed Ye Wen, Ning Ruxue, and Huayi to reach the Shattering Void level. Another portion could exchange for the cultivation crystal of Purple Star River. And a third portion hadn't even been fully absorbed yet, with no immediate prospect of complete assimilation.

"Truly worthy of the name of a peerless heavenly treasure..."

Holding the White Cloud Smoke in his hand, Ye Wen channeled the last bit of true energy to establish a connection with the crystal. The subsequent events almost required no conscious effort on his part. The White Cloud Smoke crystal seemed to take over everything, automatically circulating within him. As the crystal in his hand grew smaller, a white crystal body shrouded in white mist gradually appeared in Ye Wen's dantian, maintaining a certain distance from the crystal wrapped in the purple starry river.

Feeling the crystal vanish from his hand, Ye Wen did not stop cultivating. Instead, he continued practicing his techniques until his entire internal force was restored to its peak before opening his eyes.

With a thought, his palm showed no immediate change, only a faint white light, but as he increased his inner strength, a thin wisp of white smoke rose, looking like white flames igniting on his palm—an impressive display.

He could also sense a feeling of extreme Yang from the White Cloud Smoke's kinetic energy, suggesting this was its characteristic, while the Purple Star River gave him a feeling of fullness and solidity. It was rumored that the ten levels of the Hun Tian Bao Jian each had distinct qualities. Ye Wen now looked forward to seeing the final result once he mastered all ten levels.

"Hmm? Speaking of which, what if I use pure primordial violet energy for the summoning?" His fundamental basis of power was still the primordial violet energy. As long as he focused during cultivation to avoid activating the White Cloud Smoke and Purple Star River, the energy flowing through his meridians would remain the most fundamental primordial violet energy.

As the thought arose, he decided to act on it immediately. He also wanted to check if the time limit on summoning had changed. However, before he could take any action, a loud banging erupted on the door: "Open up! YYFO! I know you're in there! If you don't open up, I'm breaking the door down!"

... PS: Uh... ah... This is...