Psychic Power Talent?

The setting sun dipped low, dyeing the sky orange-red. The clouds looked as though they had been scorched by flames, their edges rimmed with a gold-foil glow.

The wind carried the lingering heat of the day, fluttering the skirts of girls after school and revealing their fair, long legs.

"Burp~~~"

After chugging a mouthful of fizzy energy drink and letting out a burp, Li Xijun looked at the beautiful scenery before him and finally felt a bit of that youthful campus atmosphere.

It also eased his disappointment at still not receiving the teacher's attention after displaying his talent.

"The road ahead is long and difficult. I still need to work hard."

As he spoke, Li Xijun adjusted his mindset and accurately tossed the bottle into a trash can.

"If a genius like you is already sighing like that, then us mediocrities who trained all afternoon without making any progress might as well jump into a river and end it."

Zhou Yibai, who was also sneaking glances at the girls' thighs from the corner of his eye, spoke in a rather sour tone.

As the two crossed the flowing-water stone bridge built within the school, Zhou Yibai copied Li Xijun and threw his empty drink bottle toward a trash can.

However, the bottle struck the edge of the bin and flew back up, sailing over the stone bridge's railing before plunging into the river. It startled the ducks paddling there into letting out ugly quacks.

"Damn it, these new-fashioned school trash cans are disgusting. Instead of spending money replacing trash cans, they should've given every student a bottle of Blood Essence Potion."

Frustrated that he had missed even that, Zhou Yibai stopped looking at the legs of the girls in JK uniforms and strode gloomily toward the school gate.

Li Xijun, meanwhile, acted as though he had seen nothing and continued walking at an unhurried pace.

He understood Zhou Yibai's feelings very well at that moment.

It was nothing more than having been burdened with too many expectations and too much pressure from his parents.

Yet at such a crucial time as senior year,

not only had he failed to see any obvious improvement, but classmates with similar grades had suddenly displayed clear talent. Naturally, he was getting anxious.

In truth, Zhou Yibai's family circumstances were rather similar to those of the protagonists in certain urban Dragon King novels.

Zhou Yibai had actually taken his mother's surname.

His mother's family was a branch of the fairly renowned Zhou Family in Modu.

The entire family had seven or eight martial artists, and nearly all of them held posts in official institutions. In a small city like Bocheng, they were already part of the Brahmin class.

As the youngest daughter of the family, she had once been dearly loved. But she had fallen for Zhou Yibai's father, who had merely been an ordinary poor boy. She even fell out with her family over it, and their relationship had remained strained for more than a decade.

Likewise, compared to the other members of her generation in the family, she lived an extremely ordinary life.

Having once been the family's favored daughter, Mother Zhou naturally refused to admit that she had made the wrong choice, nor would she admit that she was not living well.

So she placed all her hopes on Zhou Yibai.

Zhou Yibai had performed fairly well all along.

In previous examinations, he had ranked around 167th, barely qualifying for Martial Arts University.

If the Ten-Year Cultivation Plan had not appeared, he likely would have had a more secure chance of entering Martial Arts University than Li Xijun.

However, with the emergence of the Ten-Year Cultivation Plan, Zhou Yibai was no longer guaranteed admission to Martial Arts University. Given what had happened, it was hardly strange that his mindset had become like this.

His mentality is still a little weak. What a pity this world doesn't have A-shares, or I'd really recommend that he go there and temper his character.

Silently lamenting the lack of a stock market in this world, Li Xijun returned home after parting ways with Zhou Yibai. He opened an online shopping app and searched for items such as drones and nano bodysuits.

At the same time,

in the martial arts teacher's private classroom,

Zhang Haifeng repeatedly watched the afternoon's classroom footage in slow motion.

In particular, he had already watched for over an hour the footage of Li Xijun throwing three consecutive punches after learning the True Martial Killing Move: Sky-Reaching Hammer.

"After throwing it once with my help, he instantly comprehended and understood it, turning that killing-move fist technique into his own. It was as though it had been branded into his soul."

"Generally speaking, only martial artists with very high Spirit Levels display this kind of behavior while practicing martial arts techniques."

"Judging by this kid's performance with martial arts techniques, could he be..."

At that moment, Zhang Haifeng still felt dizzy and unreal, as though he had unearthed gold while plowing a field.

He could not help picking up Li Xijun's file again and examining it carefully.

"Although there have been some twists and turns, overall, it's still quite good."

"Most importantly:

"According to the file, his martial arts learning speed in his second year was fast, but nowhere near as absurd as it was today."

"In other words, this is definitely a talent that appeared recently!"

"Could this really be an early sign of Psychic Power awakening?"

"After teaching for so many years, did I, Old Zhang, really strike gold?"

Zhang Haifeng's heart pounded wildly beyond his control, and even his breathing became rapid and heavy.

The reason was simple: those gifted with Psychic Power were even rarer geniuses than those who awakened Martial Dao Spirituality!

So-called Martial Dao Spirituality was ultimately nothing more than compatibility with one of the seven higher cultivation methods.

Every year, a batch of them emerged among the vast populations of the Federation and Great Yan. As long as they did not die or encounter some accident, they would basically become accomplished Mortal Shedding Realm martial artists.

Such geniuses were certainly valuable, but compared with Psychic Masters who awakened Psychic Power, they were no different from stones by the roadside.

The reason was simple: anyone who awakened Psychic Power possessed extraordinary and formidable talent in mental strength.

The essence of the Martial Dao Third Realm: Concept was to cultivate martial arts such as Outer Scenery Swordplay and saber techniques, comprehend artistic conception, temper and strengthen one's mental power until one's Spirit Level met the requirement. Then, one's spirit and artistic conception would break through the limits of the Physical Body, undergo the baptism of the Outer Heaven, reveal the embryonic form of a domain, and break through into the Exterior Scenery realm.

Countless people remained stuck for their entire lives at the hurdle of insufficient mental power, being unable to comprehend Outer Scenery Moves, and being unable to have their spirit break past the limits of the Physical Body.

But for Psychic Masters who had awakened Psychic Power, this was not a hurdle at all. Nearly every awakened genius smoothly comprehended artistic conception, broke through the limits of the Physical Body, and became an Outer Scenery Martial Artist.

"Calm down, calm down. Although this behavior does fit the characteristics of a Psychic Power genius in the early stages of awakening."

"Still, he hasn't awakened Psychic Power yet. The treatment for the two is not the same."

"Some people may show signs of awakening, yet remain just one step short. They might never become Psychic Masters in their entire lives."

The experience and tempering of his many years gradually steadied Zhang Haifeng's mindset, and he stopped indulging in fantasies.

"No rush. It's only the first day of school."

"At worst, tomorrow I'll privately reward him with a box of Blood Essence Potion and establish some Good Karma first."

"In a couple of days, I'll continue increasing my investment depending on his performance."

After all, Li Xijun had indeed displayed considerable talent in martial arts techniques today. Investing a few tens of thousands in advance was nothing to Zhang Haifeng as a martial artist; either way, he would not lose out.