The third day after Li Shan moved out.
It was also the fifty-first day the Laborers had been practicing martial arts.
At dusk, a crescent moon hung high overhead, spilling hazy silver light and brushing the upturned eaves all around with a layer of shining frost.
As time passed, the Laborers gathered nearby to practice drifted away one by one, leaving the atmosphere increasingly desolate.
As if he saw none of it, Xu Yuan immersed himself completely in his stance practice, cutting off all contact with the outside world.
After completing another set of stance practice,
Xu Yuan opened his eyes and looked toward the System Panel.
[Skill: Tai Chi Exercise (Major Accomplishment 1%) Stone Platform Stance Practice (Beginner 99%)] [Qualifications: 5 (Somewhat Outstanding)]
"Today... it would happen today."
Xu Yuan's expression sharpened.
Like everyone else, this bottleneck had held him back for quite some time.
Fortunately, Xu Yuan had felt something tonight. The sense of blockage at the bottleneck had grown ever weaker, and the progress bar was only one kick away from the door.
"One more time!"
He glanced around. The figures were sparse now; it was clearly already late at night.
Xu Yuan paid it no heed, maintaining his steady posture, standing like a green pine.
According to Master Feng, once stance practice reached a certain level, one could shove eight horses flat and drag nine oxen back.
He could not yet achieve that, but it was extremely difficult for any ordinary two or three people to pull him.
Xu Yuan concentrated fully. His stance practice shifted slowly, like an old ox turning over, a fierce tiger crouching upon the ground.
Suddenly, Xu Yuan heard a crisp pop from somewhere within.
Immediately afterward, his entire body grew warm, especially around the Ren Meridian, where he felt a flash of scorching heat.
Then, a naturally smooth circulation opened wide within him, and even his qi and blood seemed to cry out in joyous song.
At the same time, a hot current surged through his body like a rushing river, flowing freely everywhere. It was as though he had immersed himself in a hot spring; every pore opened, and even his sinews and bones seemed to have shed several pounds of weight.
"I... broke through?!"
Xu Yuan immersed himself in the sensation, then quickly came to his senses. Startled, he immediately opened the System Panel.
[Skill: Tai Chi Exercise (Major Accomplishment 1%) Stone Platform Stance Practice (Minor Accomplishment 1%)] [Qualifications: 8 (Extraordinary Bones)]
Xu Yuan's Stone Platform Stance Practice had reached Minor Accomplishment, and his qualifications had risen from 5 points to 8!
More importantly, the evaluation of his qualifications had changed from "Somewhat Outstanding" to "Extraordinary Bones"!
"By now, I should count as a true genius, right?" Xu Yuan clenched his fists, his eyes blazing.
In that instant just now, he seemed to feel countless flashes of thought, like afterimages of words, colliding and sparking within his mind before giving birth to new afterimages.
Those 3 points of qualifications might have seemed simple, but they had actually brought about a qualitative transformation, practically a cleansing of his sinews and marrow!
Extraordinary bones was usually used to describe geniuses unlike the rest. They learned far faster than ordinary people, and their physical talents were more nimble and powerful as well.
Just like in many wuxia novels, extraordinary bones were often used to describe the exceptional nature of a genius youth.
Afterward, Xu Yuan felt the immense changes brought about by the transformation of his qualifications.
First, when he practiced his stance again, he could clearly sense where there were flaws, or where his qi and blood were not flowing smoothly.
Recalling the details of Feng Xiao's stance practice, his body naturally followed along and corrected itself, his efficiency rising dramatically!
"So this is the world through a genius's eyes? It's far too clear!"
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Xu Yuan stood there in a daze, savoring the feeling.
It was like a nearsighted person suddenly recovering—their vision had gone straight from standard definition to Blu-ray!
"However..."
Xu Yuan looked drained as he covered his stomach.
He had become easier to hunger now!
"The kitchen has long since closed. I'll endure it for tonight."
Xu Yuan did not know whether to laugh or cry. When others became martial artists, they drew the gaze of thousands and basked in incomparable glory.
Yet he had not only become a martial artist without anyone watching, he had to go hungry for an entire night first.
But perhaps that was for the best. Xu Yuan had always felt that being too high-profile was not necessarily a good thing.
Finally, just to be safe,
Xu Yuan found a somewhat damp wooden board and pressed his palm down on it. The sunken handprint was unmistakable!
"I've become a martial artist!"
Even Xu Yuan, whose emotions had always been steady, could not help crying out in delight.
Thinking back to his former days as a Laborer, keeping a low profile and swallowing his grievances, having to stare longingly even for a bite of meat, the unease of the Wild Wolf Gang watching from the sidelines, and the day-by-day discipline of bitter training...
"Only because of everything in the past could I achieve what I have today!"
Xu Yuan slowly exhaled a great breath of foul air, feeling much lighter in body and mind. Now that he had become an official martial artist, he was no longer in such a hurry.
"As things stand, Li Daqiang is no longer someone I need fear. What I still don't know is the foundation of the Wild Wolf Gang's leader."
Now that he was a martial artist, his standing within the Shangyang Family was still light. He could not possibly use their power to directly eliminate the Wild Wolf Gang.
But at least he had truly become one of them. He could naturally drape himself in this tiger's hide, and the Wild Wolf Gang would no longer dare act openly against him.
"Mm... after I tell Master Feng tomorrow, I should still go home for a visit."
Xu Yuan pondered for a moment before quickly making his decision. He reached out and pushed open the dormitory door.
Inside the dormitory, aside from Li Shan, who had moved away, and Xiao Sheng, who was still practicing outside,
the others were basically lying on their beds. Some had not yet fallen asleep. Rather than chatting idly as usual, they stared absentmindedly at the ceiling.
They had returned from their extra training at night utterly exhausted in body and mind, without even the strength to wash up, much less cope with the pressure weighing on their hearts.
Only a few days remained before the two months would pass, yet most of them had still made only negligible progress.
They had seen others ascend to the heavens in a single step, while they themselves would still have to return to those lowly positions serving others. The psychological gap was enormous, and truly difficult to accept.
Liu Hong was the most obvious of them all. His face was shifting between light and shadow, so gloomy it seemed water might drip from it.
When he had first found his qi and blood, he had thought himself a genius. But even now, he was still tempering his qi and blood, unable to glimpse even the shadow of the bottleneck!
It could be said that martial arts had no fate with him.
Thus, he had no mood today to ask about anyone else's progress. They were all more or less the same anyway.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan did not deliberately step forward to announce that he had broken through to become a martial artist, just to slap Liu Hong in the face.
Not only would that easily cause trouble, it had no meaning whatsoever. In any case, they would no longer meet officially in the future.
Although even if he said nothing today, everyone would know tomorrow in front of Master Feng.
But by then, who would care?
He would simply pack his things and leave.
However, Xu Yuan might remain low-key and silent, but others would not necessarily do the same.
Tian Yang came barging in like a whirlwind, his face filled with undisguised ecstasy. In a loud, ringing voice, he said, "Hey, why does every one of you look so lifeless?"
"Just now, I suddenly had an insight, and my body gave a jolt. Guess what happened? I broke through, hahahaha!"
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