Although Gu Yang said he could not teach breakthrough routes, he gave thorough guidance to ordinary Martial Arts Students.
Jia Dong's Ape Strike Method focused on striking vital points, with swift attacks and agile, ever-changing footwork. The martial arts he had learned at the martial arts academy were a little more intense than the school's, after all—he had paid for them.
But physically, he was indeed somewhat lacking. It was right to have him add a targeted hard-body training technique.
Deng Hao's Hammering City Breaker emphasized force but was cumbersome. He had no Lightness Skill to speak of, at most jumping a little higher.
After Gu Yang's guidance, he had Deng Hao add a Lightness Skill. Once he truly got into training it, he could assess the situation and add another martial art focused on perception and reaction.
Over the course of the morning, Li Ye watched him instruct the Martial Arts Students. Those with weaknesses made up for them; those without weaknesses focused on rapidly improving their vitality and blood.
Including the Foundation Building Technique, every student in the martial arts program had at least three martial arts techniques to rely on. Li Ye watched them continuously circulate their techniques and practice their moves, finding ways to raise their vitality and blood and increase their strength.
After all, no matter what martial art it was, practicing day and night without cease would certainly improve vitality and blood. To them, vitality and blood was strength.
"You're just watching? Aren't you going to practice?"
Yao Leden, who had finished a round of training and was resting, asked curiously, "Are people on breakthrough routes all this lazy? Xiang Feipeng seems pretty hardworking to me."
The corner of Li Ye's mouth lifted. "Strength earned through sweat is certainly good, but my method is harder to come by."
To be honest, Li Ye envied this kind of effort earned through sweat. Once upon a time, he too had wanted to become an iron-blooded man who grew stronger through sheer perspiration.
But now, he grew stronger through authority. That iron-blooded man was probably gone.
He was a diamond man now.
"Ring ring ring—"
The dismissal bell rang. Gu Yang clapped his hands, signaling everyone to stop.
Yao Leden said, "Come on, time to eat."
Just like the preparatory program, lunch for the martial arts program was covered by the cafeteria. It was in a hall connected behind the training venue.
As they headed toward the cafeteria, Deng Hao asked with a grin, "Sister Le, the martial arts cafeteria is a bit better than the preparatory cafeteria, right?"
Yao Leden said proudly, "In terms of quality, it's not just a little better. What they prepare for the preparatory program is all scraps."
"In terms of quality?" Li Ye felt that Yao Leden was gritting her teeth when she spoke.
"You'll know once you eat it."
Yao Leden sighed softly and entered the cafeteria hall with them.
Then Li Ye understood why Yao Leden had been gnashing her teeth.
The food in the martial arts cafeteria was not like that in the preparatory cafeteria, where they could at least turn it into proper dishes. Though it was also buffet-style, the choices...
The serving counter had rice, meat, vegetables, and fruit. Whatever needed cooking had been cooked, whatever needed washing had been washed. There was also a seasoning station beside it, covered with strange powders.
The Martial Arts Students skillfully selected ingredients, threw them all into blender cups, added some strange powders and fats, mixed them with water into a paste, and forced themselves to drink it with agonized expressions.
"What is this?" Jia Dong was dumbfounded.
"It's all good stuff."
Yao Leden picked up several peeled eggs. "Look at this—Ironfeather Brocade Chicken eggs. They promote recovery, aid development, replenish nutrition, strengthen immunity, and reinforce internal organs. A full nine effects. Top-grade ingredients that you can't even buy outside."
As she spoke, she snatched the large blender cup from Jia Dong's hand. "You didn't call me Sister Le for nothing. Sister Le will pick for you."
She tossed several eggs into the blender cup. "Energy supply."
Then she found several chunks of unknown meat, some red and some white. They were hard as iron when picked up, and tossing them into the blender cup produced crisp clinks.
"Physical enhancement."
"Digestion and absorption."
"Strength amplification."
"Body repair."
"Enduring stamina."
"Refreshing the mind."
Eggs, meat, vegetables, fruit, and a lump of rice. Yao Leden also added several scoops of strange powder—which definitely did not look like seasoning—then finally scooped in a spoonful of oil, added water, pressed the button, blended everything into paste amid a buzzing sound, and handed it to Jia Dong.
She gave a thumbs-up. "I call it Ninefold Thunderbolt Paste. Drink it, and your energy will surge, keeping you fired up all afternoon. I guarantee you won't feel tired while practicing martial arts. It is truly the ultimate method for strengthening the body, practicing martial arts, killing people, and looting goods!"
"Did you just say killing people and looting goods?"
Jia Dong's expression froze. He took the blender cup on instinct, but the moment he brought it close, he nearly threw up.
"What is this?!"
"It's something good that'll guarantee your martial arts training. There's only one problem—it tastes awful!"
Yao Leden pulled a bitter face. "Unbelievably awful!"
Deng Hao curiously leaned over and took a sniff. He immediately retreated two meters, saying in shock, "No, where's the chef? Prepackaged food would be fine! Is this smell even fit for human consumption?"
He had thought Ironclad Boar meat was foul enough. He had not expected true masters to be lurking here.
The preparatory cafeteria was merely bad. Sometimes, it even had unexpected pleasant surprises, and you could get it down.
But this stuff... could humans really touch it?
"You think you're eating at a restaurant? Let me tell you, there's a simple reason why ingredients sold outside are expensive. High-quality ingredients that are also easy to cook into something tasty are rare!"
Yao Leden rolled her eyes. "How can there be so many ingredients that are both effective and easy to prepare? Anyone capable of doing that wouldn't come to a high school to work as a chef. They would have been hired away long ago. Wanting effects but not flavor is normal. The secret manual to becoming stronger is powerful—it first makes you cast aside your sense of taste!"
"Other than tasting bad, this stuff is extremely effective. As long as you eat it day after day, year after year, then you'll definitely..."
"Then I'll definitely want to die."
Deng Hao cut Yao Leden off. Refusing to believe it, he grabbed an egg from the serving counter and stuffed it into his mouth.
Crunch!
The sound of teeth biting something hard rang out. Deng Hao was forced to spit the egg into his blender cup. The egg white shattered like glass, revealing a yolk within that had solidified like iron, utterly devoid of softness.
"It tastes horrible!"
It was not just difficult to bite through—the flavor made Deng Hao open his mouth, stick out his tongue, and suck in air continuously. "It's like extra-strength medicated oil!"
Yao Leden said, "Don't try any crooked tricks. Blending it into paste is the true path. This is the conclusion drawn from years of experience."
Deng Hao looked at the large cup in his hand, which held around three liters, and asked suspiciously, "My head won't turn pointy after I finish this, will it?"
"Who knows?" Yao Leden shrugged. "Anyway, it's good stuff. Look at Li Ye—he's already started."
While Yao Leden was speaking, Li Ye had already begun taking food. Following the proportions she had just used, he added rice, eggs, meat, vegetables, fruit, and those strange powders, poured in oil and water, sat down, and started the blender.
Once it had turned into paste, he merely took a sniff and felt a strange scent rush into his nostrils, making his mind feel more alert.
It was like horseradish and mustard mixed with medicated oil, with a hint of damp soil's earthy stench, the foul odor of stinkbugs, and the taste of two cigarette butts thrown in.
In short, it was weird.
So.
Time for the Magic Treasure!
Li Ye took out the Five Flavors Chopsticks he carried with him, stuck them into the blender cup, and poured the paste into his mouth as if he were drinking porridge.
Now the flavor was right. It was like drinking fresh congee. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he drank it all cleanly.
Yao Leden had only finished one-third of hers when she saw Li Ye empty his cup. She stopped instinctively and cried out, "Warrior!"
After saying that, she shook her head in regret, staring at the paste and unable to bring herself to drink it.
She was not a newcomer, but every meal in the cafeteria required mental preparation. It was best to down it in one go. Now that she had stopped, she would have to prepare herself all over again.
As for Deng Hao and Jia Dong, after doing their best to gulp down a large mouthful, they rested their heads against their huge cups, feeling as if their souls were about to leave their bodies.
"Brother Ye, how did you drink that? Could chopsticks really trick you into thinking it tastes good?" Deng Hao asked weakly.
"Just think about getting stronger. I'm going to make another cup."
Li Ye picked up his empty cup and rose to walk toward the serving counter.
That cup, combined with the Five Flavors Chopsticks' effect, had given him 1 point.
It truly increased vitality and blood far more than the preparatory cafeteria's food.
But what surprised Li Ye instead was that Nutrient Solution!
Without the Five Flavors Chopsticks' enhancement, one vial had given him 5 points!
During the summer vacation, he had eaten the expensive ingredients Pan Zhengyang supplied for free. Even with the Five Flavors Chopsticks, one meal had only given him sixty or seventy points.
By that calculation, four vials of Nutrient Solution were worth a hundred thousand yuan?
"Is it because of the dragon blood?" Li Ye thought to himself.
His authority allowed him to absorb things perfectly. Even diluted dragon blood was still dragon blood. It might have only a minuscule effect on others, but for him, it was an enormous boon.
As he calculated, Li Ye selected more ingredients, blended another cup, then drank it without the slightest obstacle, as though he were pouring it into some bottomless abyss that could not stir even the smallest ripple.
Deng Hao finally finished his cup in agony. Seeing Li Ye continuously blend cup after cup into paste and drink them, he could not help clicking his tongue.
"Brother Ye, you can eat even more than before after just one summer vacation?"
Yao Leden, on the other hand, asked in surprise, "Bell Chimes and Cauldron Feasts? Does your martial art require you to eat in order to train it?"
"You know quite a lot."
Li Ye's lips curled upward as he readily admitted it.
He was indeed training Bell Chimes and Cauldron Feasts. This gave him the perfect excuse to eat a little more.
And then, he ate 'a little' more.
The students had long since stopped. They should have left, but now they all remained seated, watching Li Ye in astonishment as he bustled back and forth selecting ingredients, blending them into paste, and rapidly drinking them down.
The food on the serving counter visibly dwindled, and their gazes grew increasingly stunned.
Why could he eat so much?!
Even someone practicing Adamantine Gate martial arts should not be able to eat this much!
They looked at Li Ye, then turned toward Yang Jie.
That tower-like burly man initially flushed red. Unwilling to admit defeat, he too ran to the serving counter to get ingredients.
He could not beat him in a fight, nor was he as impressive. Xiang Feipeng could easily beat him, while Li Ye could just as easily smash Xiang Feipeng.
But when it came to eating, he would never admit defeat.
Then, after managing at most six cups, Yang Jie clutched his waist and stomach before collapsing into his chair.
He had reached his limit.
Li Ye stopped after fifty cups. Not because he did not want to eat anymore, but because the serving counter had run out of food.
"Could the school prepare a little more?"
With an excuse now, he had completely let himself go.
If anyone asked, it was Bell Chimes and Cauldron Feasts!
"You can go ask, I suppose," Yao Leden said blankly.
She knew people who practiced Adamantine Gate could eat a lot, and she knew that some people could eat even more. There was even the saying that martial artists practiced Bell Chimes and Cauldron Feasts.
But was this not far too much?
Li Ye nodded, feeling the 50 points of vitality and blood he had gained, and smiled.
The amount from each serving was small, but there were so many servings. After becoming a martial artist, he could finally eat to his heart's content.
And he had also identified a faster path to breaking through.
At his current pace, if he wanted to break through using martial arts alone, he needed 6,000 points of vitality and blood before it could transform.
Never mind the money—even if he wanted to finish that amount of food in one sitting, he would definitely draw attention.
And it was not as if he only needed to eat once. The Nine Dragon Gate Leaps required more and more as he progressed.
Unless he followed the proper order and slowly built himself up over time, bit by bit. But that way, he would absolutely never get into a Top Martial Arts University within a year.
Before his master died, he had entrusted him with getting into a Top Martial Arts University. For that, his master had even told him that if he truly had no other choice, he should first practice the Foundation Building Technique.
His family's needs were currently met, but why settle when he could do better?
Based on Li Ye's own income, he could save for two years and pay off the two hundred thousand yuan debt. But he could not let his parents live in that old residential complex for the rest of their lives, could he? Even if they were willing, Li Ye wanted to walk a higher martial path and see more scenery. All of that required good resources.
A Top Martial Arts University was surely the best.
Unless he killed another god and obtained new authority, he still needed to find a more convenient way to eat if he wanted to break through.
Li Ye had been considering this even before school started, but now, it seemed there might be a solution.
Nutrient Solution containing dragon blood components!
One vial of Nutrient Solution gave him 5 points. Combined with the Five Flavors Chopsticks, it could give him 15 points of vitality and blood.
The palm-length Nutrient Solution vials were like test tubes. Several hundred of them could probably fit into just over ten mineral-water-bottle-sized containers.
With so little liquid, he would not draw any attention at all.
And he could exchange for these things through training, then combine them with the cafeteria meals he ate every day. Entering the Fourth Dragon Gate would not take so long.
"If I go training, how do I exchange for Nutrient Solution?" Li Ye asked.
"You want Nutrient Solution?"
Yao Leden asked strangely, "That stuff isn't very good. It can't compare with high-end ingredients. But it truly isn't available on the market. Only schools have quotas for it. If you want to exchange for it, one demon gets you one vial."
Li Ye nodded. Those Training Points had better really refresh on a set schedule!
Before you continue