Recommendation Letters were hard to come by now, and Chu Qing could not be bothered to chase one down.
Perfect timing—he could use this time to swallow the strange pearls and open up the Heaven-Connecting Path.
One strange pearl after another went down his throat.
His speed in opening the Heaven-Connecting Path grew faster and faster.
With the Mysterious Female Pearl, swallowing a single strange pearl let him kill more than thirty great dragons.
One day...
Three days...
Five days...
That day:
Chu Qing swallowed another pearl, his consciousness fighting within his spine.
Crack!
The final great dragon was slain by him.
The second Heaven-Connecting Path was complete.
The second Heaven-Connecting Path merged with the first.
It slightly increased his foundation.
The speed at which it nurtured his bloodline and physique had increased.
Yet beyond that, there were no other changes.
"As expected, the second Heaven-Connecting Path is completely useless."
Chu Qing looked at the remaining strange pearls.
There were still more than a hundred of them.
And by his calculations, there were still seven or eight days until the Martial Academy's final assessment.
"Then... I'll try opening a third Heaven-Connecting Path!"
He swallowed a strange pearl, his consciousness entering his spine once more as he attempted to open the third Heaven-Connecting Path.
Yet:
The power of one pearl was entirely exhausted, but there was not even the slightest trace of the third Heaven-Connecting Path.
"Hm?"
"Could it be that the human body simply has no third Heaven-Connecting Path?"
"No."
"In this world, there are three great Heaven-Connecting Paths: fists and feet, unorthodox paths, and orthodox paths."
"I've only used two."
"One is still missing!"
"Could the third Heaven-Connecting Path require more resources?"
With that thought, he continued swallowing strange pearls.
Only this time, he swallowed two in one go.