Coach Lu's Surprise

"Awake again."

On the bed, Chen Feng casually grabbed his phone from under the pillow.

The time was exact, still seven-oh-five in the morning.

He got up, pulled open the curtains, and sunlight stabbed his eyes.

Outside, the street's buildings rose and fell in uneven lines, old neighborhoods and towering high-rises blending together.

A hint of summer wind blew in, rustling the green trees on both sides of the asphalt road. A cleaner swept with a broom, and scattered groups of elderly folks practiced tai chi on the square.

For a time, seeing this peaceful, tranquil scene, contrasting it with the eerie darkness of the dream—

Chen Feng stood still for several minutes, slowly adjusting to the reality he'd returned to.

"Maybe that was a real world."

"It just suffered some kind of catastrophe."

The thought flickered through his mind, and Chen Feng recalled the black bugs on that Faceless One.

Utterly bizarre, and they'd nearly ambushed him.

If not for the fact that they decayed rapidly once leaving a human body, unable to survive alone—

He'd have been in serious danger.

"Still, this trip into the dream did bring quite a harvest."

Chen Feng clenched his fists, walked slowly out of the room, and entered the bathroom next to the living room.

He looked into the mirror. The person inside seemed ordinary.

But compared to the gaunt frame he'd had when he first crossed over—

His biceps, deltoids, trapezius—

The lines of these muscle groups were increasingly defined, and their circumference had grown by at least twenty percent.

If he walked down the street, anyone would think he spent all his time in the gym.

"The enhancement from Sanshou Mastery is no joke. I'm probably punching over 80kg now, right?"

Maybe even at the level of an Amateur Third Rank?

A guess surfaced in his mind. Chen Feng clenched his fist, comparing it to yesterday's punching test, and could roughly sense the change in strength.

This wasn't just about control and adaptation to his body.

It also benefited from his Perception Talent.

Though the panel's text description was simple, as the beneficiary of this talent, he could feel some more nuanced effects.

"Not bad!"

Satisfied, he nodded, setting aside all stray thoughts.

Then, after tidying up, he had breakfast and ate a Superman-brand Energy Bar.

Time slipped by quietly. By one in the afternoon, he'd already arrived at the academy ahead of schedule.

Bang!

!!

Inside the practice room, perhaps because they'd learned about the Core Disciple assessment yesterday—

Most of the Sanshou training class students had their own little schemes and showed up early.

Some practiced punches alone in a corner; others carried a bell jar and did deep squats to build muscle.

The sandbag area echoed with constant motion. Many wore gloves, either hitting sandbags or jumping straight into sparring matches.

Watching this scene, Chen Feng, who'd changed clothes and walked into the practice room, had already suspected he'd come to the wrong place.

"Morning, Chen Feng."

Lin Hao appeared a step later, wearing a black tank top, his expression quite casual.

"Oho, quite a crowd. Everyone's early."

With a light laugh, Lin Hao grinned oddly. "Too bad these guys probably don't even know what the assessment really is."

"Do they really think that just because they've performed a bit better these past few days, they have a shot at passing?"

He spoke without thinking, but the listener took it to heart.

Chen Feng turned his head toward him, curious. "You know what the assessment is?"

"Of course I do."

Lin Hao replied with a smile, not hiding it. "You should know, Yan Wu Academy isn't weak in Nanjiang City. This is just one branch."

"They plan to expand their Core Disciples, but they're not taking just anyone."

"Character and talent—both are indispensable. And there's only one slot in the training class. What do you think that means?"

With that casual tone, Chen Feng understood the other party's meaning.

To put it bluntly, the most important thing in a martial arts hall is being able to fight.

Without a doubt, only those with martial potential can qualify as Core Disciples.

And the way to judge this potential is also very simple.

With so many people in the Sanshou training class, just have them all spar at once, and it'll be clear as day.

Thinking this, Chen Feng didn't waste any more words.

Walking alone to a corner, he quickly set up his stance and began practicing his punches.

His physical fitness had improved considerably last night, and he needed to get properly reacquainted with it.

Boom!

In an instant, a Straight Punch combined with a step-around, and he quickly entered his groove.

Seeing this, Lin Hao raised an eyebrow.

Although he was pretty weak himself, he could still roughly tell that Chen Feng's Sanshou level had made no small improvement over the past two days.

"Couldn't be that he just mastered it all at once, right?"

Shaking his head, he thought it unlikely.

They were fellow students in the same class, and they got along fairly well privately—how could he not know the other's talent?

With that thought, Lin Hao didn't dwell on it further. He quickly went to grab a Bell Jar and began training his center of gravity and lower body muscles.

Before long, the official start time for the Sanshou class arrived.

Coach Lu walked into the Practice Room right on time, still instinctively looking first at Xu Dongtai in the very center.

Thump!

With one punch, the Sandbag shook.

His punching power was clearly close to 100kg. If not for his shortcomings in other areas, he might even have a chance to obtain an Amateur Fifth Rank combat certificate.

"Not bad, improving fast. He's probably almost at Amateur Fifth Rank."

"Looks like the assessment slot in this training class is as good as Xu Dongtai's."

Nodding to himself, Coach Lu was in charge of three Sanshou training classes.

But among them, Xu Dongtai was the one he had the highest hopes for.

If it weren't for the other's somewhat impulsive and flashy nature, and his tendency to stir up trouble, he would have even considered directly recommending him to the senior brother of the martial arts hall, bypassing the assessment process.

"Having the assessment is good too. Consider it a way to temper his temperament."

Withdrawing his gaze, Coach Lu intended to open his mouth and give everyone some pointers on the key points of Sanshou boxing techniques.

But then, the next second.

A trace of movement caught his peripheral vision, and he quickly turned his head to look at the corner, at the figure in black practicing punches alone.

Slanted Brow, Buzz Cut, Angular Face.

When he first signed up for the class, he was still somewhat thin. But lately, whether it was due to supplementing his nutrition or training hard enough, his physique had actually filled out quite a bit?

Even more so.

"Mastered Sanshou?!!"

His gaze sharpened as he watched Chen Feng execute a Splitting Punch, a Step-in spin, and a whip kick that split the air.

The movements were fluid, the center of gravity stable.

As an experienced coach, how could Coach Lu not recognize this as the hallmark of Sanshou mastery?

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

His eyes flickered with doubt. Coach Lu suspected he was seeing things.

But when he took a second look, the whistling Fist Wind of the other party undoubtedly confirmed his judgment.

"This kid really has mastered Sanshou!"

"Two days, from beginner to mastery!"

His mind shook. Coach Lu knew very well what this represented.

Martial arts have concepts like opening the aperture and sudden enlightenment—this has been common knowledge since ancient times.

It wasn't that he had never seen similar examples before. For instance, the Junior Uncle Master of the martial arts hall's true inheritance—wasn't he initially mediocre, only to have a sudden enlightenment one day and soar to the heavens?

"Calm down, calm down!"

"People like Junior Uncle Master are, after all, rare. Maybe this kid just got lucky and had one chance insight."

Taking a deep breath to steady his emotions.

Coach Lu watched Chen Feng's punching movements, forcing himself not to hope for too much.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. He didn't want to put his emotions on a roller coaster.

"True or false, I'll know by watching his follow-up."

"But for now, I can give him a little guidance first, test the waters."