Source Energy

After completing the test, Chu Kuang returned to his training spot.

He had just arrived when he saw Jiang Feng, built like a savage bull, walking over. "So? Are you planning to train an advanced martial art?"

"Not yet. I feel like my Basic External Martial Arts are almost at perfection." Chu Kuang shook his head.

Jiang Feng frowned slightly and tried to persuade him. "Your comprehension is better than mine. If you had started training advanced martial arts earlier, your external martial arts should have broken through to mastery by now."

"These basic martial arts are ultimately just for laying a foundation. Mastery is already enough. Quite a few people in our class have only reached minor mastery in their basic martial arts."

Chu Kuang nodded but did not continue discussing the subject.

Seeing this, Jiang Feng said nothing more and simply walked over to Lin Shuyao.

"How was it?" Lin Shuyao asked when she saw Jiang Feng return.

Jiang Feng shook his head, then deliberately sighed. "What a pity. His talent is actually decent, yet he is wasting his time for nothing."

"If he were a top genius, it would be fine for him to bring his basic martial arts to perfection without losing much time. But without that talent, stubbornly obsessing over basic martial arts will make it hard for him to achieve anything in the future."

After hearing Jiang Feng's words, Lin Shuyao withdrew her gaze, a hint of regret appearing on her face.

Back in middle school, with the advantage of memories from a past life and decent comprehension, Chu Kuang had been among the first in the entire grade to train his basic martial arts to mastery.

At that time, Lin Shuyao had just begun to understand love. Since she and Chu Kuang were classmates, she had harbored a trace of hidden affection for the handsome young man, and their relationship had been somewhat ambiguous for a time.

But afterward, Chu Kuang stubbornly fixated on basic martial arts, and his grades fell until he could not even make the top twenty in class. Lin Shuyao gradually became more mature and rational, and their relationship slowly grew distant.

In Lin Shuyao's view now, Chu Kuang had probably fallen completely behind and no longer had any chance of obtaining a spot to enter the Dark Domain for training two months later.

"One step behind, and every step behind."

"From the moment he chose to stubbornly focus on basic martial arts, he and I were no longer people on the same level."

Lin Shuyao withdrew her gaze and completely extinguished the feelings of her younger self.

The man she wanted to marry had to be a true powerhouse, a prodigy of the human race who could take her beyond the Tian Yuan Galaxy to witness the brilliant sea of stars—not some mediocre person who could never break through to the Second-Order Transcendent Realm in his entire life.

"Shuyao." Seeing the change in Lin Shuyao's expression, Jiang Feng immediately smiled. "Other than you and me, everyone else in the class probably has limited prospects."

"How about becoming my girlfriend? We can work hard together and get into Tian Yuan University."

"Oh?" Lin Shuyao smiled faintly, her eyes carrying a trace of indifference. "Talk to me after you get into a top Martial University."

As the two spoke, Chu Kuang had already focused and resumed training his basic martial arts.

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and several hours went by without him noticing.

"Still a little short."

By the time school ended, Chu Kuang felt that his Basic External Martial Arts had reached the limit of mastery. He was only a thread away from perfection, yet he remained unable to find that final opportunity.

But that single opportunity was no small bottleneck for Chu Kuang. Basic martial arts were easy to learn but difficult to master, and breaking through to perfection came with a significant barrier.

If one's talent was sufficient, they might break through in a few days. If not, they might remain stuck for more than a decade.

"Is it because my innate constitution is too poor?"

Chu Kuang muttered, his brow furrowing slightly. A fourth-grade, mid-tier innate constitution was simply too ordinary. The vast majority of his classmates had third- or fourth-grade innate constitutions as well.

Such an innate constitution did not mean one could never train basic martial arts to perfection. It simply required a great deal of time and refinement to make a breakthrough, and it would most likely take more than ten years.

"Ten years is too long. I can't wait."

With that thought, he could only temporarily set aside his training, rise to his feet, and head home.

Chu Kuang's home was located in the commoner district of Tian Heng City, on the thirty-second floor of a high-rise building. Still, it covered more than five hundred square meters. After all, the living space controlled by humanity in this era was far beyond anything from the age of Earth.

As soon as he returned home, he saw an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy practicing martial arts with great seriousness, while a one-armed middle-aged man beside him sternly corrected his movements.

"Dad."

Chu Kuang looked at the middle-aged man and called out to him out of habit.

The man was named Chu Yang, his father in this life. Chu Kuang had not replaced the original owner of this body; he had been reincarnated into this life and raised by Chu Yang since childhood, so there was nothing awkward about calling him father.

Chu Yang nodded, then looked toward the boy. "Go help your brother carry his things."

"Big Brother, you're back!"

The boy immediately beamed and hurried over to take Chu Kuang's clothes and training equipment.

Chu Kuang handed them over, rubbed his head, and said, "Your fist technique is looking pretty good. It won't be long before you reach the beginner stage."

"It's all thanks to Father teaching me well."

This boy was Chu Yu, Chu Kuang's younger brother in this life. He was in the second semester of sixth grade. He was currently getting familiar with basic martial arts in preparation for training foundational martial arts after entering middle school in the second half of the year.

In this era, everyone practiced martial arts. Children under twelve had bones and muscles that were too fragile, so sixth grade was mainly used for literacy, accumulating martial arts knowledge, and learning about the acupoints and meridians throughout the human body.

By middle school, bones and muscles had begun to develop but were still not fully formed. Training rashly could easily cripple a person, so students only practiced basic martial arts to build their foundation.

Chu Yu was four years younger than Chu Kuang and had always regarded him as his idol, so the brothers had an excellent relationship.

"You go practice on your own first. I need to speak with your brother."

Chu Yang sent Chu Yu away and brought Chu Kuang into the study.

Inside the study, father and son fell into a brief silence. Looking at his father's lone arm, Chu Kuang could not help but sink into his memories.

In this era, humanity was constantly at war with alien races and the Dark Domain, so population had always been scarce.

To ensure a sufficient number of martial artists and soldiers, and to defend the Tian Yuan Galaxy, the Federation had always encouraged childbirth. Generally, as long as a family had a child, the Federation would grant them a reward of thirty thousand Federal Coins.

Therefore, most low-level martial artist families had seven, eight, or even more than ten children. Most of Chu Kuang's classmates had at least seven or eight siblings, yet Father Chu had only two sons.

That was because Father Chu had once aspired to martial arts as well. Unfortunately, when Chu Kuang was three years old, a Dark Tide suddenly erupted on Tian Yuan C Star.

Ferocious beasts and native lifeforms from the Dark Domain invaded Tian Heng City through spatial rifts, causing tremendous losses throughout the city.

Father Chu desperately protected the young Chu Kuang and fought his way out of the jaws of the beasts with him, but he paid for it with one of his arms.

It was also because of this that Father Chu lost his chance to break through to the Mortal Transformation Realm.

"Father."

Chu Kuang gathered his thoughts and was about to ask why Father Chu had called him aside, but Father Chu stopped him with a wave of his hand.

Father Chu looked at Chu Kuang, his gaze calm. "Your teacher, Xu Yue, called me today. He said your innate constitution is insufficient and advised me to have you give up training Basic External Martial Arts."

Chu Kuang was slightly startled and wanted to say something, but Chu Yang raised a hand to stop him.

"I know your temperament. You're like me—you like to get stuck in dead ends."

Chu Yang shook his head, then rose and walked to the safe.

He carefully opened it and took out a pale blue potion glowing with fluorescent light, then placed it in Chu Kuang's hand.

"A First-Order Source Energy Potion."

Looking at the pale blue potion before him, shock appeared in Chu Kuang's eyes.

Source Energy Potions came from the Dark Domain. They were concocted from first-order spiritual herbs containing source energy and were extremely valuable even to powerhouses in the First-Order Mortal Transformation Realm.

Such a rare treasure was naturally exorbitantly expensive. Even a First-Order Source Energy Potion cost a full hundred thousand Federal Coins.

Federal Coins had immense purchasing power. In this era, if one did not pursue martial arts, an ordinary person could live comfortably for an entire year on just one hundred Federal Coins.

Father Chu and Mother Chu both worked at the Federal Farm, and their combined annual income was only twenty thousand Federal Coins. To buy such a Source Energy Potion, they would need to save without eating or drinking for five years.

"This is too precious."

Chu Kuang took a deep breath and tried to push the Nutrient Solution back.

Father Chu calmly shook his head and said, "Without a Source Energy Potion, are you confident you can train your Basic External Martial Arts to perfection?"

"I won't disappoint you."

Chu Kuang fell silent, then firmly accepted the Source Energy Potion.

Father Chu did not continue the subject. He simply stood and said, "When you feel the bottleneck, take it and make your breakthrough. Your mother has finished cooking. Let's eat first."

"Alright."

Chu Kuang nodded and followed Father Chu into the dining room.

Mother Chu had just finished cooking and was carrying the dishes out from the kitchen. When she saw the father and son emerge, she smiled. "The two of you are both wearing such grim faces. Anyone who didn't know better would think someone owed you money."

"Come eat. We can talk after dinner."

The meal was especially quiet. Chu Kuang felt an invisible pressure in his heart, while Father Chu seemed to be suppressing worries of his own.

Chu Yu tried several times to join the conversation, but seeing the expressions of his father and brother, he did not dare say much.

After the meal, Chu Kuang finally entered the martial arts room and carefully took out the Source Energy Potion.

"A First-Order Source Energy Potion is too potent. It's best to dilute it before taking it."

Looking at the Source Energy Potion before him, Chu Kuang's expression turned solemn.

In this high-martial era, the cultivation realms were the Zero-Order Apprentice Realm, First-Order Mortal Transformation Realm, Second-Order Transcendent Realm, Third-Order Divine Treasury Realm...

Among them, the Apprentice Level was divided into two stages: Body Forging and Organ Refining.

Chu Kuang, who had achieved major accomplishment in Body Forging, was only at a lower-middle level among Apprentices. Father Chu, meanwhile, was at Apprentice Level Perfection, which was already above average among adult residents of Tian Yuan C Star.

In truth, ninety percent of the people on Tian Yuan C Star remained at the Apprentice Level. They could never break through to the Mortal Transformation Realm in their entire lives, or could only rely on Gene Potions to take the path of Gene Evolution and become the weakest kind of Mortal Transformation Realm martial artist.

Chu Kuang knew that Source Energy Potions were extremely precious and were ideally used when attempting to break through to the Mortal Transformation Realm.

But he understood that his innate constitution was ordinary. At present, using the Source Energy Potion to break through to perfection in his basic martial arts was already the optimal choice.

With that thought, Chu Kuang diluted the Source Energy Potion and drank it in batches.

Boom—

As the Source Energy Potion entered his stomach, Chu Kuang immediately felt an incredibly vast energy surge into his body.