"Lu Chenzhou, get up on the wooden pile and try Flying Step."
Lu Chenzhou, who was practicing alone, was suddenly called out by Shi Ruyu.
Quite a few students had already tried before this.
The best was Old Zhang. His comprehension was average, but his cultivation was the highest, and with a strong physique, he managed to last for two minutes. Then there was Du Men, who specialized in the agile Swallow Return Fist, had better mastery in fist technique, and relatively better movement technique.
Lu Chenzhou didn't hesitate and leapt onto the wooden pile.
His body began to sway along with the shaking wooden pile.
Shi Ruyu's voice reached his ears.
"Don't panic, imagine you're a sea swallow, use your arms to keep your balance, keep your core as steady as a rooster's head, step out boldly, and keep your whole body coordinated!"
Lu Chenzhou silently recited the main points of the mantra and stepped forward.
After a minute, he was shaken down by a wooden pile.
"Not bad, lasted a whole minute."
Shi Ruyu acknowledged.
Among the students here, only Du Men and Old Zhang had lasted over a minute.
"Everyone, keep practicing."
When class ended, she turned and left.
After seeing how powerful their senior sister was, the students admired her even more.
"So awesome. When will I ever reach Seventh Rank?"
"If I can step into the Transformation Realm this life, I'll be content."
Lu Chenzhou replayed Shi Ruyu's movement technique in his mind.
"Senior sister is really impressive. She hasn't been studying under the Lord for long, and must not have trained Sea-sweeping Body for too long either, yet she can already teach us."
As night grew deep, he left the Martial Arts Academy.
...
Building 3, Stone Lake Garden, 2802.
Pushing the door open, he saw Li Xianghua and Lu Guoping in the middle of a discussion.
"Mom, Dad, you're back."
"Yeah, your mom worries about you outside."
"I'm an Initiated Martial Artist, what could possibly happen? You two go have fun."
Li Xianghua was scrolling through the news, a bit anxious as she said:
"A Fifth Level Virtual Disaster right by Taihu… sigh."
Lu Guoping comforted her:
"Relax, even people from the central government are here now, everything will be fine."
Lu Chenzhou added:
"Mom, even those who broke the Sixth Shackles are here. Haven't you seen the videos in the family chat? People like that are no different from legends or Immortal Saints—it's going to be fine."
If a heavenly-calamity-level Virtual Disaster really did happen, there's no use worrying now.
This stuff is just like an earthquake. What can you do?
At most, move to another city for a while.
Lu Guoping added:
"Anyway, our whole family is keeping a close eye on the news from now on. If anything comes up, or if the country tells us to evacuate, we'll just go rent somewhere else. Trees die when they're transplanted, but people thrive. If we lose our jobs or our house, so be it!"
"I'll have my brother keep an eye out too. Folks at the government offices hear things quickly."
"Oh please, he's at the cultural tourism bureau, not the Virtual Disaster Bureau."
"Still better than nothing."
While his parents chatted, Lu Chenzhou returned to his bedroom.
No matter what storms rage outside, cultivation is priority.
In today's world, nowhere is safer than Da Xia. As long as he becomes a Martial Artist, most problems will get sorted, and he can go wherever he wants.
After 1 hour and 3 minutes of painful pile skill practice—
Lu Chenzhou stared at the Martial Arts Tree.
[Dragon and Tiger Heavenly Pile: 2nd Acupoint (46%) → 2nd Acupoint (48%)]
"Shangyang Acupoint isn't much harder than the Middle Strike Acupoint. I can still achieve a 6% progress rate in one day, but it used to take three hours. Now, it's 3 hours and 9 minutes. In the future, I'll definitely have to spend even more time on the Heavenly Pile."
The Heavenly Pile is simple if you say so, difficult if you say so. Too many people fail at the willpower level. With their amount of effort, they're not even qualified to compete on talent limits yet.
"Whatever happens, if I can guarantee opening one acupoint every half month in the earlier stage, this speed isn't worse than most intermediate root bones. After entering university, with more teachers and martial arts resources, my acupoint-opening speed can improve a lot."
In comparison, Du Men is diligent in cultivation and has decent comprehension for a low class root bone. He studied Dragon and Tiger Heavenly Pile for two years and only opened five acupoints. Senior Li opened three. The club president is the worst—he also studied two years and only opened two acupoints."
It's not that Qin Zheng is dumb, it's just that he slacks off more than he practices.
Li Linling, at least, was pretty hardworking before senior year.
The pile skill is truly tough. If you can't practice daily and open the acupoints in one push, after enough time, the acupoints return to a state of chaos, which means you pretty much practiced for nothing.
"The path of Martial Arts is like sailing against the current—if you're not moving forward, you're moving back!"
Lu Chenzhou compared himself to other students.
He realized he was actually pretty impressive.
From that angle, thirty acupoints doesn't seem so many.
With the Martial Arts Tree, the future is bright!
Ji Xuantong has an intermediate root bone, started Martial Arts School at age five, and didn't become a Martial Artist until almost thirty. Lu Chenzhou has hope to surpass the Lord even earlier and will surely shatter even more shackles in the future.
"Cangtian Dragon King!"
Lu Chenzhou stared at the poster.
He quietly set his sights on the Dragon King as his goal.
...
Time flew by.
Taihu remained locked down, with no word on reopening.
Even from far away you could see a blue light screen covering the world.
Bit by bit, Su City's people returned to normal life. Like Qin Zheng predicted, house prices in Su City, including the Inner City, inevitably dropped. Some rich folks already moved out to settle in cities with top-level Martial Arts Universities.
Despite the drop, there weren't many buyers.
Li Xianghua and Lu Guoping had entirely given up on buying a house. If a Fifth Level Virtual Disaster actually hits, it makes no difference living in Inner or Outer City—buying a house now is just asking for trouble.
Of course, there were some trying to bottom fish, hoping for a price rebound to make a profit.
If the Virtual Disaster passes, that's a real possibility.
But that has nothing to do with the Lu Family—that's the rich people's game.
The biggest benefit this huge event brought Lu Chenzhou was that he could now use Martial Arts Supplements continuously—he went from one box a month to two boxes.
The old couple let go of their hopes for buying a house.
Now, all they could hope for was that Lu Chenzhou makes something of himself and they get to live in the university staff compound.
That's true social mobility. Everyone around you are elites or family of Martial Artists, with all kinds of information channels far beyond ordinary people—the old couple could only dream.
...
February 18th, early morning.
As dawn broke over the east, the people of Su City were still asleep.
On the rooftop, Lu Chenzhou had already finished practicing Heavenly Pile.
He looked at his right index finger. There was a refreshing, clear feeling there, so wonderful it made all the suffering of the past half a month practicing Heavenly Pile worth it.
He looked at the Martial Arts Tree.
[Martial Art Skills]
[Basic Boxing: Perfection (No Regrets)]
[Black Tiger Fist: Mastery (30%)]
[Sea-sweeping Body: Beginner (15%)]
...
[Cultivation Techniques]
[Dragon and Tiger Heavenly Pile: 2nd Acupoint Opened]
"So much gained these days—got Sea-sweeping Body at beginner, opened Shangyang Acupoint. Now, common deafness, toothache, and throat diseases can't touch me, Qi-Blood is up a bit too, and I've laid a solid foundation for future True Skill cultivation."
When teaching, Shi Ruyu would sometimes tell the students about top Martial Artists from Martial Arts Universities.
She said that Pingjiang Martial Arts University had a Martial Arts Polymath [Shangyang Sword·Duan Lingyu], who mastered an exclusive martial art that channels True Qi through the Shangyang Acupoint. In battle, their True Qi could instantly destroy someone's internal organs—one finger could pierce a steel plate that normally takes a heavy sniper rifle to break.
Martial Arts Polymaths are Martial Arts Experts who have shattered the second shackle.
Innate True Qi is their trademark.
Gold Cutting and Jade Breaking kind of physical power is just the most basic display of True Qi's power. Compared to that, regular Martial Artists can't outgun modern firearms.
Its most important use is that it can counteract Void Things!
Void Things are complicated—some can be destroyed by modern weapons or technology, but many more are intangible spiritual bodies, immune to artillery and bullets.
Martial Artists have always been the main defense against Void Things.
"Tonight, time to go find the Lord to learn the third pile skill."
Next up is the [Guanchong Acupoint] on the right ring finger.
...
Night.
Flying Swallow Martial Arts Hall, Qi Blood Measurement Room.
A girl in training clothes, with a ponytail and an oval face, was flowing through Basic Boxing. Petite but nicely shaped, she looked graceful.
After finishing, she stood barefoot.
[Qi Blood Value 4.44. Congratulations, you've reached Eighth Rank standard.]
The girl let out a slight sigh.
"It really does get tough after the Transformation Realm."
She walked out of the measurement room.
A tall boy was already waiting outside.
"You go ahead, sorry to keep you waiting."
Saying that, the girl headed toward the Martial Arts Room.
Lu Chenzhou glanced back—this girl must be an intermediate root bone, not much older than him, already Eighth Rank, even better than Shi Ruyu.
But… her legs aren't as long as Shi Ruyu's.
Lu Chenzhou withdrew his gaze, not discouraged by others' excellence—the road of Martial Arts is a long one. After he finished Basic Boxing, the measurement machine's voice sounded.
[Qi Blood Value 1.60. Congratulations, you've reached Second Rank standard.]
"That's 0.04 higher than before opening the acupoint."
Lu Chenzhou left the measurement room, satisfied.
With three and a half months till exams, he estimated that by next month the Black Tiger Boxing would reach Small Success. That main practice is the real Qi-Blood booster. By then, he could open another one or two acupoints, and hitting 1.73 in Qi-Blood shouldn't be a problem.
In half a year, up three ranks.
This speed is enough to show off his talent to the school.
Right now, he's feeling super confident about getting into Martial Arts University.
He arrived at the Martial Arts Room and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Lu Chenzhou entered and found Ji Xuantong sitting across from a girl.
It was the same girl from just now.
The girl saw Lu Chenzhou and stood up.
"Dad, start the lesson—don't waste this guy's class time."
"Alright, this is one of our core students, named Lu Chenzhou."
Hearing the name, Ji Feiyan looked seriously at the boy.
"Father, this is the particularly hardworking junior you told me about?"
"That's right. Half a year ago, he wasn't even initiated. After joining our Martial Arts Academy for a few months, he's already Second Rank." Ji Xuantong smiled with gratification.
"Wow, Dad, you're impressive."
"Not really. Stop joking—learn from your junior's hard work. With your root bone and comprehension, surely you'll hit Ninth Rank before graduation, right?"
"Easy for you to say, Dad! Weren't you only Seventh Rank at my age?"
"Conditions were different for me back then!"
"Whatever, heh."
"Alright, go chat with your little junior—get to know each other."
"Alrighty."
After Ji Feiyan left, the Martial Arts Room grew quiet.
Ji Xuantong said:
"That's my daughter, Ji Feiyan. She's studying at Dragon City University right now. Just call her Senior Ji, and she's also my very first True Disciple."
Lu Chenzhou's eyes flashed. He smiled and said:
"I just saw Senior Ji in the measurement room, so young and already Eighth Rank in Qi Blood—amazing. Turns out she's your daughter, teacher. That explains it."