Coach Lu's Surprise

"Awake again?"

On the bed, Chen Feng casually picked up the phone from beneath his pillow.

The time was exact to the minute—still 7:05 in the morning.

He got up and pulled open the curtains. The sunlight was dazzling.

Outside, buildings rose and fell along the street, old residential blocks mingling with towering skyscrapers.

A light summer breeze blew past. The trees on both sides of the asphalt road rustled softly, sanitation workers swept with brooms, and small groups of elderly men and women practiced tai chi in the square.

For a time, as he looked at this tranquil, peaceful scene and compared it with the eerie darkness of the Dream Realm.

Chen Feng stood there silently for several minutes before gradually adjusting to the reality he had returned to.

"Perhaps that was a real world."

"It just suffered some kind of upheaval."

The thought flashed through his mind, and Chen Feng recalled the Black Bugs on the Faceless One.

They had been incomparably bizarre and had nearly ambushed him.

If not for the fact that they decayed rapidly after leaving the human body and could not survive independently.

He would probably have been in grave danger.

"Still, this trip into the Dream Realm truly brought considerable gains."

Chen Feng clenched his fists and slowly walked out of his room into the bathroom beside the living room.

He looked into the mirror. The reflection inside appeared ordinary enough.

But compared with how thin he had been when he had first crossed over.

His biceps, deltoids, and trapezius.

The outlines of those muscle groups had become increasingly distinct, while their size had increased by at least twenty percent.

If he walked down the street, anyone would think he spent plenty of time at the gym.

"The strengthening brought by Proficient Sanshou is indeed impressive. My punching power should exceed 80 kilograms now, right?"

Perhaps he even had the strength of an Amateur Third Rank?

A guess surfaced in his mind. Chen Feng clenched his fists and compared them with yesterday's punching test, roughly sensing the change in his strength.

This was not merely greater Mastery and adaptation to his body.

It also benefited from the capabilities of his Perception Talent.

Although the panel's description had been simple, as the beneficiary of this talent, he could sense some of its more detailed effects.

"Not bad!"

Chen Feng nodded in satisfaction and cast aside all distracting thoughts.

After tidying himself up, he finished breakfast and ate a Superman Brand Energy Bar.

Time quietly passed. By one in the afternoon, he had already arrived at the Martial Arts Hall early.

Bang!

!!

Inside the Practice Room, perhaps because they had learned about the Core Disciple assessment yesterday.

Most of the Sanshou training class students had developed their own private thoughts and arrived quite early.

Some practiced punches alone in the corners, while others carried Bell Jars and performed squats to train their muscles.

The sounds from the sandbag area echoed constantly. Quite a few people wore gloves, either striking sandbags or directly sparring with one another.

Seeing this scene, Chen Feng, who had changed clothes and entered the Practice Room, nearly suspected he had come to the wrong place.

"Morning, Chen Feng."

Lin Hao appeared a moment later, dressed in a black sleeveless T-shirt with a rather casual expression.

"Yo, quite a lot of people. They all came early."

With a chuckle, Lin Hao gave an odd smile. "Unfortunately, these guys probably don't even know what the assessment actually is."

"They really think that performing a little better these past few days will give them a chance to pass the assessment?"

The speaker might have meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart.

Chen Feng turned to look at him and asked curiously, "You know what the assessment is?"

"Of course."

Lin Hao replied with a grin and did not hide anything. "You have to know that Yan Wu Academy is quite strong in our Nanjiang City. This is only one branch."

"They may be planning to expand the Core Disciples, but they won't recruit just anyone."

"Character and talent are both indispensable, and there is only one slot in the training class. What do you think will happen?"

From his casual tone, Chen Feng understood the other party's meaning.

To put it bluntly, the most important thing in a Martial Arts Hall was the ability to fight.

Without question, only those with martial arts potential were qualified to become Core Disciples.

And the method of judging that potential was simple.

With so many people in the Sanshou training class, they just had to PK and fight each other. The answer would naturally become clear.

Thinking this, Chen Feng did not waste any more words.

He walked alone to a corner, quickly assumed his stance, and began practicing punches.

His physical fitness had improved greatly last night, so he needed to adapt to it properly.

Boom!

At once, with a Straight Punch and a circling Step-in, he quickly entered the zone.

Seeing this, Lin Hao raised his brows.

Though he was rather weak, he could still vaguely sense that Chen Feng's Sanshou level had improved considerably over the past two days.

"Could he have suddenly become Proficient?"

Lin Hao shook his head, feeling that was impossible.

They were fellow students from the same batch and were fairly close in private. How could he not know what talent Chen Feng had?

Thinking this, Lin Hao did not dwell on it and soon grabbed a bell jar to begin training his balance and lower-body muscles.

Before long, it was officially time for the Sanshou class to begin.

Coach Lu entered the Practice Room on time, as usual instinctively looking first toward Xu Dongtai in the very center.

Bang!

With one punch, the sandbag shook.

His punching power was clearly close to 100 kilograms. If his other aspects were not somewhat lacking, he might even have had a chance to obtain an Amateur Fifth Rank combat certificate.

"Not bad. You've improved quickly. You should be close to Amateur Fifth Rank."

"It seems the assessment slot in this training class is firmly in Xu Dongtai's grasp."

Coach Lu nodded to himself. He had three Sanshou training classes under him.

But among them, Xu Dongtai was the one he valued most.

If not for Xu Dongtai's somewhat impulsive, high-profile personality and his love of causing trouble, Coach Lu might even have directly recommended him to the senior brothers at the Martial Arts Hall and skipped the assessment process.

"Having him go through the assessment is good too. It can help temper his temperament."

Coach Lu withdrew his gaze, intending to offer everyone further guidance on the key points of Sanshou punching techniques.

But in the next moment.

A Trace of movement entered his peripheral vision, and he quickly turned his head toward the black-clad figure practicing punches alone in the corner.

Slanted brow, buzz cut, angular face.

He had been somewhat skinny when he first enrolled, but perhaps he had supplemented his nutrition and trained hard during this period. His physique had actually grown much sturdier?

More than that.

"Proficient in Sanshou?!!"

Coach Lu's gaze sharpened as he watched Chen Feng throw a chopping punch, take a Step-in, spin, and snap out a whip kick through the air.

His movements flowed smoothly, and his center of gravity was stable.

How could the experienced Coach Lu fail to recognize the signs of Proficient Sanshou?

"That's not right. Wasn't this kid only a beginner two days ago?"

Suspicion filled Coach Lu's eyes as he wondered whether he had seen wrongly.

But when he looked again, the howling fist wind from Chen Feng's strikes undoubtedly proved his judgment.

"This kid is really Proficient in Sanshou!"

"Two days, from beginner to proficient!"

Coach Lu's heart shook. He knew very well what that represented.

There had always been talk of sudden enlightenment and awakening in martial arts. It was common knowledge since ancient times.

It was not as though he had never seen similar examples before. For instance, the Martial Arts Hall's Junior Uncle Master had also been mediocre at first, only to achieve sudden enlightenment one day and soar to greatness?

"Don't rush, don't rush!"

"People like Junior Uncle Master are rare, after all. Perhaps this kid was simply lucky and happened to gain insight once."

Coach Lu took a deep breath and calmed himself.

Watching Chen Feng practice, Coach Lu forced himself not to hope for too much.

The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. He did not want his emotions riding a roller coaster.

"Whether it's real or not, we'll know from what comes next."

"Still, I can offer him some pointers first and give it a try."