First Elimination

Over the next few days, Zhang Shu seemed to have been beaten scared. Whenever he saw Zhou You, he went out of his way to avoid him, his eyes darting.

Even among the novice apprentices, it was a world where the strong preyed on the weak.

Senior Disciple Brother was kind-hearted by nature, but he wasn't a pushover. After all, martial training itself was a process of deciding superiority and inferiority.

Therefore, as long as the apprentices' private sparring and brawls didn't cost anyone their life, he wouldn't interfere.

Afterward, Zhang Shu tried several times to urge Li Hao to stand up for him.

But Li Hao was at a critical point in his breakthrough. How could he have time to bother with him?

Besides, Zhang Shu's poor character was no secret. Li Hao looked down on him and had no interest in getting involved.

Thanks to that conflict, Zhou You had also gained a little fame.

After all, defeating an experienced newcomer practicing Tiger Subduing Fist using only basic hand and footwork was practically a miracle.

However, the apprentices generally didn't think highly of him. No matter how solid one's foundational training was, without diligently practicing Tiger Subduing Fist, there was no way to develop force.

Zhou You understood this deeply as well.

Imperial Strike Hand and Square Step were like the four basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—the foundation of mathematics.

In theory, a mathematical master could use nothing but those four operations to solve any problem beneath heaven.

But theory was theory. Very few people could accomplish it.

Tiger Subduing Fist was like an advanced equation. Built upon the four basic operations, it could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

If Zhou You didn't have the System Panel, then even if he trained Imperial Strike Hand and Square Step for a lifetime, he still couldn't develop force.

But no one knew that he trained his hand and footwork to accumulate Experience Points as well.

He had joined the martial arts school for nearly a month.

During that time, he had received four packets of Tiger Bone Paste. Under the accumulating effects of the medicine, his three attributes had each risen by three points.

The beginnings of drug resistance had appeared, and the Tiger Bone Paste became less effective with every use.

Even so, he had raised Tiger Subduing Fist to lv6.

Imperial Strike Hand and Square Step had also reached lv7 after day-and-night training.

Name: Zhou You.

Strength: 9.

Speed: 9.

Defense: 9.

Experience Points: 34.

Profession: Martial Arts Apprentice.

Skills: Imperial Strike Hand lv7, Square Step lv7, Tiger Subduing Fist lv6.

Based on Tiger Subduing Fist's progress, once it reached lv10, he would develop force and gain the qualifications of an Official Martial Arts School Apprentice.

But the further he progressed, the higher the requirements for strength, speed, defense, and skill proficiency became.

Zhou You didn't dare relax in the slightest and continued training day and night.

Time flew by...

This day was the assessment day for the martial arts school's outer courtyard, when the apprentices' fates would be decided.

His roommate Song Fugui, also Zhou You's only Sparring Partner, still hadn't developed force after his hundred days were up. As expected, he was expelled.

Five or six other apprentices left alongside him, each reacting differently.

Some looked despondent, their faces gray as ashes. Others wailed loudly and knelt on the ground, begging for another chance.

Senior Disciple Brother Lu Qiang wore a cold expression and remained unmoved no matter how they cried and caused a scene.

Song Fugui was in good spirits. With his luggage on his back, he bid Zhou You farewell.

"Zhou You, I'm going home to sell oil. Next time I pass your doorstep, I'll give your mother the cost price."

He laughed a few times. "I told you I wasn't cut out for martial arts, but my father just wouldn't listen."

"We've spent so much silver. How much oil will I have to sell to earn it back?"

"Old Song the oil seller was shrewd all his life, yet this was the one losing deal he made."

Zhou You patted him on the shoulder. "When I can leave next month, I'll come find you for tea and a chat."

As Song Fugui followed the other apprentices out the gate, he looked back with a trace of reluctance in his eyes.

He knelt at the entrance and kowtowed three times. "Senior Disciple Brother, I'm leaving."

This was the experience of most apprentices. After joining the martial arts school for three months, they couldn't even catch a glimpse of the school master, Wang Jianxiong.

In their eyes, Senior Disciple Brother Lu Qiang was an elder who was both teacher and brother, worthy of respect.

"Li Hao, you've developed force. Demonstrate it for us."

Song Fugui and the others had left the martial arts school, but some had successfully developed force within three months.

Li Hao, the most outstanding apprentice in the outer courtyard, had finally developed force before the deadline.

Lu Qiang's voice drew the surrounding novice apprentices, who gradually gathered around.

Li Hao stood before a wooden post, took a deep breath, and faint roars sounded with his inhalations and exhalations.

This was clearly the mark of Tiger Subduing Fist's entry level—tiger roars with every breath.

Then they saw his muscles swell, his tendons and bones shift. With the slightest movement, he carried a faint reek of blood.

The observing apprentices wore frightened expressions, as though they had seen a mountain tiger appear on level ground and run wild.

After several cycles of breathing, Li Hao gathered his momentum to its peak and threw a full-force punch straight into the wooden post.

The post was made from century-old hardwood. Even blades and axes struggled to leave marks on it, combining hardness with resilience.

Before their eyes could follow, an afterimage flashed past. With a crack, the wooden post snapped apart, exposing a jagged, white splintered break.

A wave of startled cries rose and didn't fade for a long while.

The apprentices often punched and kicked these wooden posts to train their strength, so they knew exactly how sturdy they were.

Li Hao had shattered one with a single punch, and the broken wood had even flown more than ten meters away. It was clear that he had truly developed force.

Zhou You thought, if I had that kind of strength, I could've smashed Zhang Shu's kidneys with one punch back then and made him vomit black blood to death.

Force was a threshold—the difference between beating someone and killing someone.

From the moment one developed force, fist martial arts truly transformed into a genuine killing art.

"Good. Li Hao has developed force. He may become an Official Martial Arts School Apprentice and remain in the outer courtyard."

Lu Qiang nodded at the sight.

The surrounding novice apprentices looked on enviously. Their companions who had just been expelled had already been cast to the back of their minds.

Only after becoming an Official Martial Arts School Apprentice did one qualify to become a disciple of the martial arts school.

Otherwise, one could only borrow the martial arts school's name for three months, equivalent to spending money to buy a hundred days of peace.

Like those expelled apprentices, not only had their tuition gone down the drain, but they also had to return the martial arts school's Wooden Talisman, leaving them with nothing.

Even if they developed force after leaving the martial arts school, they would never be able to join it again.

Only people like Li Hao, who developed force within a hundred days and became Official Martial Arts School Apprentices, qualified to continue their studies.

"What does mere force amount to?"

"My goal is to develop Blood Qi in the future, advance to Martial Warrior, and return to my post with the City Gate Guards."

Li Hao's blood boiled in his chest, and he was filled with confidence in the future.

Tiger Subduing Fist was Jianxiong Martial Arts School's foundational entry-level fist art. Only by cultivating it to completion could one catch the eye of the school master and be accepted as an inner courtyard disciple.

The force threshold initially weeded out more than half of the mediocre lot.

The next Blood Qi Gate was the true obstacle.

The outer courtyard's twenty or thirty Official Martial Arts School Apprentices had long been stuck at the Blood Qi Gate without making any progress.

At Jianxiong Martial Arts School, only those who developed Blood Qi became inner courtyard disciples—the true people above others.

The Mountain Lord Life-Replacing Pill was a true Martial Dao Spirit Pill. Eating a single pill had the effect of remaking one's body and bones.

Li Hao came from a lineage of military officers. His knowledge far surpassed that of ordinary families, and his plans for the future were equally clear.

Enter the inner courtyard, become an official disciple, obtain a Mountain Lord Life-Replacing Pill—step by step, he was determined to claim it all.

Chaotic times were about to arrive. Only strength could protect one's lineage, and it was also the foundation of his future meteoric rise.