Inside the dormitory building.
After cooking himself a pot of Thousand Mountain Bull meat in a pressure cooker, Lu Chuan browsed the news while wolfing down the beef.
Every so often, he washed it down with a cup of vegetable juice.
Life was truly carefree.
"I can't take it anymore. I'm stuffed."
This carefree life continued until the entire pot of beef was gone.
The fullness in his stomach left Lu Chuan puzzled.
After becoming a martial artist, one's appetite increased by no small amount. Even a First-Rank Martial Artist could easily eat over ten pounds of food, let alone Lu Chuan, a Third Rank Martial Artist.
But now?
That whole pot of beef weighed, at most, three pounds, yet Lu Chuan was full.
"Strange. Is something wrong with my body?"
For a moment, Lu Chuan was completely at a loss. Should he go to the hospital for a checkup?
Suddenly, Lu Chuan slapped his forehead. "My brain... How did I forget that the flesh of the Ten Thousand Races is filled with spiritual energy? It's no different from cultivation resources, so naturally it can't be mentioned in the same breath as ordinary food."
Only then did Lu Chuan realize that it was not the beef itself making him feel full, but the spiritual energy contained within it.
"Wait! Spiritual energy?"
Lu Chuan seemed to think of something. "If I circulate the Sky Swallowing Art now, can I devour the spiritual energy in the beef?"
"If I can, that'll save me quite a bit of Academic Credit!"
No sooner said than done!
Lu Chuan immediately sat cross-legged on the floor and began circulating the Sky Swallowing Art.
At once, a blazing fluctuation spread through his body. At the same time, streams of spiritual energy were devoured and converted into martial cultivation.
About ten minutes later, Lu Chuan opened his eyes, delight filling them. "It really works!"
"Hahaha..."
"I've struck it rich this time!"
"I only need to buy the flesh of the Ten Thousand Races, then I can grind the proficiency of the Sky Swallowing Art while using it to raise my cultivation!"
"Keep going!"
For the next stretch of time, Lu Chuan kept repeating the process of eating beef and refining spiritual energy, occasionally drinking a few cups of vegetable juice as well.
Only after Lu Chuan had eaten all one hundred pounds of beef did this repetitive process finally come to an end.
And Lu Chuan's panel had changed considerably.
Host: Lu Chuan Cultivation Art: Evergreen Spirit Art 2024/(Mastery) Sky Swallowing Art 1/1000 (Proficient) Realm: Third Rank Martial Artist (1000/) Martial Arts: Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm 1067/(Mastery) Alchemy: Hidden, click to view. Simplification Points: 12
"According to the panel, those hundred pounds of beef gave me less than nine hundred points of cultivation."
"Compared to spirit crystals, it really is a bit of a loss, but the advantage is that it kills two birds with one stone."
"After all, swallowing spirit crystals won't raise the proficiency of my Sky Swallowing Art."
"As for the Sky Swallowing Art... according to the feedback from the Simplification System, once its proficiency reaches the Proficient Level, raising it further requires not only higher-grade flesh from the Ten Thousand Races, but also a greater quantity."
"In other words, next I'll need to eat ten pounds of Thousand Mountain Bull meat at the fourth-rank realm just to raise my proficiency by one point."
A bitter smile appeared on Lu Chuan's face. There was simply not enough Academic Credit to spend. He was still far too poor.
"Fortunately, once the Sky Swallowing Art reaches the Proficient Level, I can collect a reward from Master. That should ease things up a little."
"But I'll have to wait a few more days. I only obtained the Sky Swallowing Art recently. No matter how monstrous my talent is, it's impossible for me to comprehend it to the Proficient Level so quickly."
"Perfect. I'll use this time to grind the Evergreen Spirit Art to Great Perfection."
Over the next several days, Lu Chuan never stepped outside. Other than cultivating, he stayed holed up in his room drinking vegetable juice.
This gave Chen Mo quite a fright.
Going into seclusion was one thing, but Lu Chuan bought an entire ton of vegetable juice every day.
No matter how good vegetable juice tasted, surely no one would drink it like that.
Chen Mo had practically started to suspect that Lu Chuan was cultivating some evil art.
Fortunately, Lu Chuan explained in person that it was merely his personal quirk. Since there was no aura of an evil cultivator on him, Chen Mo said nothing further.
Still, this reminded Lu Chuan that he needed to move to the villa district sooner rather than later.
At the very least, no one would disturb him there, and he could pull off some wild moves without worry.
One week later.
"Burp!"
After letting out a satisfied burp, Lu Chuan tossed the vegetable juice in his hand aside and said with a look of liberation, "It's finally over."
Heaven knew how Lu Chuan had survived these past few days.
Vegetable juice was already awful enough, and Lu Chuan had been drinking it as though avenging some blood feud. One could imagine just how much psychological damage it had inflicted on him.
Fortunately, it was finally over.
Host: Lu Chuan Cultivation Art: Evergreen Spirit Art (Profound Mastery) Sky Swallowing Art 1/1000 (Proficient) Realm: Third Rank Martial Artist (1008/) Martial Arts: Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm 1067/(Mastery) Alchemy: Hidden, click to view. Simplification Points: 12
Note: Since the Evergreen Spirit Art's proficiency has reached the Profound Mastery realm, the host's cultivation speed will double while cultivating. This trait can be retained permanently and will not be affected by cultivation art fusion.
Just as Lu Chuan had guessed, beyond Great Perfection lay Profound Mastery.
As for its benefits, they were obvious.
Doubling cultivation speed was already rare enough, not to mention that the trait would remain permanently.
"Looks like I'll have to collect more cultivation arts in the future. If these traits stack together, they might even be more powerful than the Sky Swallowing Art."
After speaking, Lu Chuan let out a deep sigh.
Sigh, another place to spend money.
"Sometimes, having too many ways to grow stronger is also a kind of trouble..." Lu "inhuman brat" "Versailles master" Chuan lamented.
Azure Dragon Academy was enormous. At the very least, it seemed enormous to Lu Chuan.
Even after walking for a full twenty minutes, Lu Chuan had yet to reach Lin Lei's manor.
As for why he was going to Lin Lei's manor, naturally, it was to collect his reward.
Lu Chuan figured that a week had already passed. It should be fine for him to claim that he had comprehended the Sky Swallowing Art to the Proficient Level now, right?
Probably?
Whatever. Since he was already here, he couldn't exactly turn back now.
After firming up his resolve, Lu Chuan continued onward.
Inside Lin Lei's manor.
When Lu Chuan arrived, Lin Lei was discussing something with Chu Feng. Seeing Lu Chuan approach, Lin Lei set aside what he was doing and looked at him with a smile.
"Lu Chuan, you're here. What do you need from your master?"
"Master, I've cultivated the Sky Swallowing Art to the Proficient Level," Lu Chuan said.
"So you ran into a problem while cultivating the Sky Swallowing Art. Let me tell you, you can't rush when cultivating the Sky Swallowing Art. You must..."
"What did you say?"
Lin Lei abruptly stood up, his face full of disbelief. "You've cultivated it to the Proficient Level?"
Chu Feng, standing nearby, was equally incredulous. "Lu Chuan, this isn't something you can joke about."
Lu Chuan had obtained the Sky Swallowing Art less than a month ago. It would already have been impressive if he had merely gotten started.
As for the Proficient Level.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Not to mention Lu Chuan—even the former department head, who had once overshadowed an entire generation, stood invincible beneath heaven, and left countless prodigies dimmed in comparison, had spent nearly a year before deducing the Sky Swallowing Art to the Proficient Level.
Even then, he had already set a new historical record for the Combat Department.
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