"Hello, the total was 253 yuan."
Liu Qingxia skillfully scanned and bagged the goods, checking customers out one by one. Only after everyone in the checkout line had finished paying, just as she was about to take a break, did her phone receive a message.
Looking down, she saw that it was telling her to go to the warehouse and sort out the newly arrived stock.
Liu Qingxia left the counter and headed toward the warehouse, casually scanning the supermarket's goods along the way and considering what ingredients she should buy tomorrow.
Although signing her son up for martial arts training had been put on hold, she could not be careless about food ingredients. Especially during summer vacation, now that her son had found someone to train with on his own, she had to handle the logistics properly.
I should buy some more expensive ingredients.
Just as she was thinking that, her phone rang again.
Liu Qingxia answered. "Xiaoye, what's wrong?"
Then she jolted, nearly dropping her phone. Even her voice trembled. "Really?"
"You really broke through?!"
In the maintenance office on the other side, Li Haihua shot to his feet in excitement, drawing the glances of nearby coworkers.
"Good! Good! I told you, you were cut out for both academics and martial arts! Wonderful! Have you told your mother? Good! Good!"
Li Haihua said "good" several times in a row. After hanging up, he could not suppress the smile on his face.
A coworker teased him, "Old Li, what great news did you get?"
Li Haihua burst into laughter. "My son broke through Dragon Gate!"
The moment those words came out, his coworkers all offered congratulations.
Ordinary people like them did not have so many twists and turns in their struggles. Even if someone disliked it, they would still offer polite words on the surface. There was no deep grudge between them, after all.
In their eyes, breaking through Dragon Gate meant securing a stable job ahead of time. It was not enough to make people jealous.
Besides, some of the money Old Li had borrowed a few days ago had come from them.
"You have to treat us to a meal, Old Li."
"That's right. Such great news calls for several tables of food."
Listening to his coworkers, Li Haihua waved his hand high-spiritedly. He was not refusing; there was simply no need for further words.
Li Ye took a taxi to the Pest Control Bureau, which bore the sign of the Sanitation Bureau, and went straight up to the third floor.
After telling his parents, he had also sent Pan Zhengyang a message. The other man had told him to come over immediately.
He knocked on the door. Hearing an "Enter" from inside, Li Ye pushed the door open and saw Pan Zhengyang taking a call.
It was not a cell phone, but the landline sitting on his desk.
"I understand. Once the documents come down, I'll issue the order. We'll investigate thoroughly. All right, all right, yes, I understand."
After putting down the phone, he clicked his tongue. "Every industry in Ningjiang City related to martial arts is about to undergo strict inspection. If your family has businesses in that area, you can give them advance notice."
Li Ye smiled. "Three generations of wage earners. We don't have business in our blood."
"Maybe your generation will be blessed by your influence."
Pan Zhengyang joked before looking Li Ye up and down. "You said three in the afternoon, and you really meant three in the afternoon? Activate your qi and blood. Let me see."
Li Ye nodded. His entire body tensed as he activated his qi and blood. A faint haze appeared around him, like an aura and like steam.
As the haze rose, it pulsed once in a rhythmic beat.
This was the manifested sign of the Dragon Gate Realm—the substance of qi and blood. Once activated, one could see how many times it pulsed.
Li Ye was undoubtedly at First Dragon Gate.
But when Pan Zhengyang had first met him, he had been certain that this fellow's qi and blood had been hollow, not condensed. He had merely been an ordinary martial arts practitioner.
"Damn it, his perception was that accurate? Can a Preparatory Student really have this kind of aptitude?"
Pan Zhengyang spoke doubtfully, but immediately shook his head. "When the forest is big, every kind of bird can be found. It isn't that strange."
There was no quantitative standard for aptitude. Otherwise, there would not have been freaks like Fu Yan, who began martial arts at twenty-eight and charged all the way to the third realm.
Pan Zhengyang said, "Normally speaking, there has never been a fixed rule for when someone breaks through qi and blood. Diligent cultivation and bitter training can do it; relying entirely on the Guiding Method can do it too. Those so-called estimates and evaluations are merely experience-based judgments according to physical strength."
"Some break through in two months, and plenty do so in two days. But for you to pinpoint it this precisely, your control over your body and your sensitivity to qi and blood must be extremely strong. That's a rare talent."
He motioned for Li Ye to sit down, tossed him a cigarette, then lit one for himself. "First, let me ask: what are your plans for the future?"
Plans for the future.
Long ago, after Li Ye had learned about this world, he had been full of lofty ambition, wanting to stand at the pinnacle of martial arts.
Then reality had beaten him down, and he had become someone who only wished for his qi and blood to pulse.
Later, after discovering that he had no aptitude, he had only wanted to be an ordinary person who lived reasonably well.
But now that he had obtained Authority, his goal should have returned to standing at the pinnacle of martial arts. Yet he felt that a person still had to move forward one step at a time.
So.
"I want to kill a god."
That left Pan Zhengyang stunned. He stared blankly at Li Ye for a long while. After confirming that Li Ye was not joking, he burst into loud laughter.
"Ha ha ha ha! Demons crowned with the name of Gods aren't so easy to kill!"
Li Ye smiled as well. "Maybe it'll be easy when it comes to me."
"Good! You've got ambition!"
Pan Zhengyang smiled. "If you want to kill Gods, you can't do without a good martial art. With your talent, there happens to be one martial art that suits you."
Upon reaching the Dragon Gate Realm, one began learning martial arts.
At the martial arts school Li Ye had attended before, those in the Dragon Gate Realm were taught Seventy-two Thunder Legs. Or rather, his "springing kicks" were the foundation of Seventy-two Thunder Legs.
Only martial arts could allow those in the Dragon Gate Realm to continue condensing their qi and blood and produce pulses.
The martial arts curriculum in high school taught the Foundation Building Technique, universally used across the country, balanced and moderate.
The martial arts taught by martial arts schools were more powerful and effective, but their tuition was also expensive.
Li Ye had planned to enter the martial arts curriculum and choose the Foundation Building Technique. He had Authority, so Qi Circulation was no longer a difficult problem for him. There was no need to spend that money at a martial arts school. It would not be too late to choose a new martial art after reaching university.
After all, the primary purpose of the Dragon Gate Realm was to condense qi and blood.
But from Pan Zhengyang's tone, it seemed he believed Li Ye's current "talent" was suited to some particular martial art.
"You want to teach me martial arts?" Li Ye asked.
"Me? When have I ever known how to teach people? Slashing people, maybe."
Pan Zhengyang looked at Li Ye. "But there's someone who can teach you. A top-tier martial art—it depends on whether you want to learn it."
Li Ye's eyes widened slightly. "Such a good thing can fall into my lap?"
Martial arts also varied in strength. He knew that much.
Both might break through qi and blood, but their true worth would certainly differ. Just like how both were undergraduate degrees in his previous life—could a third-tier college compare to Qingbei?
"There will definitely be benefits once you master it."
Pan Zhengyang said, "I won't hide it from you. The main thing is that this martial art is unusual. Logically speaking, someone like you, who attended preparatory school, basically shouldn't meet the conditions to learn it."
Li Ye tugged at the corner of his mouth but said nothing.
"Its progress is slow. Even someone with enough aptitude to break through Dragon Gate in elementary school would end up training like an ordinary martial artist if they learned this martial art."
"Then who would be willing to do it?"
"Exactly. That's the point."
Pan Zhengyang spread his hands. "Those with good aptitude don't want to learn it, because there are easier top-tier techniques. Those with poor aptitude can't learn it, because their aptitude truly isn't enough. And there's another requirement: only those who can sense changes in qi and blood can learn it."
"You seem pretty good at sensing changes in qi and blood, so you can give it a try."
"And learning this martial art is truly grueling, far more grueling than the training methods at martial arts schools. But I guarantee that if you master it, you'll be absolutely invincible among those of the same level. Put it this way: if I had encountered someone like that back then, I could've been hung up and beaten."
Pan Zhengyang added, "I graduated from Top Martial Arts University."
A top martial arts university—only those at Seven Dragon Gate qualified to apply.
Was it really that powerful?
After thinking it through, Li Ye realized that he truly was a good fit for it—indeed, a perfect fit.
In terms of aptitude, his aptitude was poor. But by working hard and eating, he could ignore aptitude entirely. Whether the progress was slow or not, he did not care in the slightest.
Qi Devourer's exquisite ability to sense qi and blood also met the condition Pan Zhengyang had mentioned.
Hardship?
Strength was what mattered most.
Qi and blood were qi and blood; strength was strength. What was the use of qi and blood alone? If he wanted to continue dealing with "Gods" and obtain more Authority, he had to become strong.
"I'll learn it!" Li Ye agreed without hesitation.
"Someone will call you later."
Seeing Li Ye agree, Pan Zhengyang smiled. "You won't need to pay anything. Honestly, that person's martial art is nearly lost to the world. If you can truly master it, he'd sell off his entire family fortune to support you. And if you can't master it, that's fine too. It was difficult to begin with. I'm only acting on someone else's request to look for a disciple."
"But mastering it will benefit your future."
Pan Zhengyang clenched his cigarette between his teeth, exhaled a cloud of smoke, then seemed to think of something else.
"On another note, you said before that you wanted to join the Pest Control Bureau. Now you can. First Dragon Gate, judged purely from the records, has no contamination. Are you interested in taking a part-time position?"
Li Ye froze. "No diploma required?"
Pan Zhengyang rolled his eyes. "How could one not be required? You still have to take an exam. Don't you know every government post requires an exam? But here, martial arts realm is your diploma. If you're interested, it's settled. Since it's part-time, I won't make you take the exam."
"Do I get five salaries too?" Li Ye asked.
"A Data Clerk only gets one salary. You're part-time, so we won't pay your five insurances and housing fund. We'll raise your pay a little instead. You won't need to come every day. Whenever there's a need, we'll call you in for a shift. Consider it a reward for your meritorious report."
As he spoke, he opened a drawer and took out a large pack of square boxes, along with several new magazines, tossing them onto the desk.
"These are bullets for the gun I gave you last time. I won't keep you any longer. Go downstairs and fill out a form yourself. You'll count as hired."
Li Ye thanked him, took the bullets and put them into his backpack, then said his farewells.
After Li Ye left, Pan Zhengyang picked up his phone and made a call.
"Old Xu, do you want a disciple or not? If you do, say the word, then get your ass over here yourself."
Before you continue