Qingfeng

But Ye Qingfeng frowned slightly, shaking his head regretfully. "Your spear technique is too poor. Go to the virtual training ground and practice."

As his voice fell, a crisp sword hum sounded. Chu Kuang didn't even notice the opponent draw his sword before he felt the world spin and was teleported outside the arena.

"This is—"

Chu Kuang returned to the Tian Heng Star Realm and, with a fearful touch to his neck, felt an extreme sense of dread fill his heart.

If this wasn't a virtual star realm, he would have been killed in one blow.

"Too strong, his sword is incredibly fast."

"Ye Qingfeng... is there someone like that in Third Middle School?"

Chu Kuang pondered for a moment, then recalled the scene of the opponent drawing his sword, his pupils constricting as he said, "Qingfeng Sword Art, so it's him."

Having guessed the opponent's origin, Chu Kuang's sense of defeat instantly vanished.

The Qingfeng Sword Art had three volumes: upper, middle, and lower. The upper volume alone was a beginner sword art. In the entire Tian Heng Third Middle School, no more than ten people practiced the Qingfeng Sword Art.

Since the opponent could instantly defeat Chu Kuang, the upper volume of the Qingfeng Sword Art was likely already mastered. And among the first-year students, only one person could master this volume of sword art.

"Possessing a top-grade bone structure, the strongest genius in Tian Heng Third Middle School in the past five years."

Chu Kuang said calmly, understanding the opponent's identity.

A top-grade bone structure was a once-in-ten-thousand genius. Among the over 100,000 first-year students in Tian Heng City, only three to five possessed such a bone structure.

With his top-grade bone structure, Ye Qingfeng was treated like a treasure by Third Middle School from the moment he enrolled, receiving the largest share of both cultivation and teaching resources.

If nothing unexpected happened, Ye Qingfeng's basic internal and external martial arts, beginner external martial arts, and the upper volume of the Qingfeng Sword Art were all mastered. He might even be learning intermediate cultivation methods and internal martial arts.

His life level had likely surpassed level 7, possibly even reaching level 8, so Chu Kuang's defeat was not unjust.

"My bone structure can't compare to his, nor can my resources. But with the boost from my cultivation technique perks, I will eventually surpass him step by step."

Chu Kuang took a deep breath, put away this thought, and clicked on the ranked match to play another game.

His opponent this time was ranked over 2,800th. After fighting for more than thirty moves, he narrowly lost to his opponent.

In this battle, his opponent had mastered Great Accomplishment External Martial Arts and won entirely by suppressing him with his life level, combined with beginner martial arts at the Minor Accomplishment level.

"Just a little bit more."

"Mastering basic external martial arts only provided a small boost to my life level. My martial arts skills also need improvement."

Chu Kuang murmured to himself, immediately feeling his shortcomings.

Simply mastering basic external martial arts could only increase the life level cap to 5.5 at most. With his Great Accomplishment Basic Internal Martial Arts and the Intermediate Iron Armor Technique, he had already raised his life level cap to 5.6.

This was already close to his current limit. If his internal and external martial arts couldn't advance further, he could only raise his life level to 5.7 at most.

However, his opponent this time, relying on beginner external martial arts at the Great Accomplishment level, defeated him with a life level of 5.8 and Minor Accomplishment Beginner Saber Technique.

"My life level is too low. It will be difficult to break into the top three thousand."

"But if I can cultivate the Gold Splitter Spear to Minor Accomplishment, combined with the Basic Spear Technique that I've already mastered to the extreme of Great Accomplishment, I should have a chance to defeat that opponent."

Chu Kuang pondered. His Gold Splitter Spear had perk bonuses. Once cultivated to Minor Accomplishment, its power would increase by an additional 20%, which might give him a chance to win.

However, his Gold Splitter Spear was only at the Nascent Stage [47%]. Even with the Purple Perk [Spear Dao Compendium] bonus, reaching Minor Accomplishment usually took several days.

"Perhaps I really should go to the training ground to hone my skills."

Chu Kuang mused, remembering Ye Qingfeng's words.

At that time, Ye Qingfeng had said his spear technique was too poor and told him to practice in the virtual training ground. Having gone through many years of compulsory education, Chu Kuang naturally understood what the virtual training ground was.

The so-called virtual training ground was a place in the star realm for people to hone their martial skills.

In the virtual training ground, one could choose and set opponents of different levels to simulate life-and-death battles, quickly honing and improving one's martial arts skills.

However, the training ground was not free. Each hour of use required a certain amount of Federal Coin. Therefore, for many years, Chu Kuang had been reluctant to use the training ground to hone his skills.

When Chu Kuang opened the training ground, he found that the training fee for the Apprentice Level training ground was as high as two hundred Federal Coins per hour.

"So expensive."

Looking at the exorbitant training fee, Chu Kuang felt a headache coming on.

Operating a star realm required immense energy. The training ground was a major energy consumer of the star realm and also one of its largest sources of income, so the fees were naturally not low.

Chu Kuang reluctantly paid the fee and directly chose an opponent with Great Accomplishment Elementary External Martial Arts and Great Accomplishment Elementary Spear Technique, setting their life level at 5.8.

As a result, Chu Kuang was completely crushed in this battle, defeated by the opponent in just five moves.

"No, the gap is too big. This won't improve me much."

Seeing that he was no match, Chu Kuang adjusted the opponent's spear technique to Minor Accomplishment level and immediately felt the pressure significantly decrease.

Minor Accomplishment Elementary Spear Technique could already exert enough pressure on Chu Kuang, but they could fight back and forth. Sparring with opponents of similar strength often brought greater improvement.

But as they continued to fight, Chu Kuang was killed after fifty moves in the first exchange.

In the second exchange, Chu Kuang managed to last eighty moves. In the third, he could fight the opponent for over a hundred moves.

After continuously training like this for over an hour, by the seventh exchange with the opponent, Chu Kuang felt that his Gold Splitter Spear had made significant progress and he could finally fight back and forth with the opponent.

Like gold splitting stone, power like heaven's decree!

After a fierce battle of over a hundred exchanges, Chu Kuang felt a sudden enlightenment. The previously difficult Gold-Splitting Spear Technique underwent a qualitative change, piercing through his opponent's chest with the force of heaven's might.

He came back to his senses, completely suppressed his opponent's simulated form, and then checked the panel in his mind.

Gold-Splitting Spear Technique [Minor Accomplishment 1%].

Gold Splitter [Blue]: The sharpness of Gold Splitter, capable of shattering stone and splitting gold, increases the power limit of the Gold-Splitting Spear Technique by 20%.

"Twenty percent."

Chu Kuang whispered to himself, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Beginner spear techniques at the Nascent Stage could boost power by about 20-30%, while Minor Accomplishment spear techniques could boost it by about 50-60%.

His Gold-Splitting Spear Technique, newly entered into Minor Accomplishment, could already boost his power by 50%. However, with the enhancement from the perk, its power was already nearing the limit of Minor Accomplishment.

"With my current strength, I should have a decent chance of winning against those ranked lower within the top three thousand."

Chu Kuang mused, but he didn't rush to participate in the ranking matches. Instead, he continued to open the training mode.

He renewed the training ground for another two hours. He had a little over half an hour left, and to avoid wasting it, he decided to use up the remaining time.

Time flew by quickly. After another half hour, Chu Kuang finally ended his training when the two hours were completely up.

Gold-Splitting Spear Technique [Minor Accomplishment 5%].

"An hour of life-or-death combat in the training ground is more effective than three days of practicing spear techniques on my own. Even if the effect gradually decreases later, this is still the best place to rapidly improve martial arts skills."

"Unfortunately, I'm out of money again."

After finishing his training for the Gold-Splitting Spear Technique, Chu Kuang let out a deep breath.

The ten thousand Federal Coins his homeroom teacher, Xu Yue, had lent him were all spent on Nutrient Solution. Half of this Nutrient Solution had already been consumed to raise his Life Level to 5.5.

He had fifty-two vials of Nutrient Solution left, but once his Iron Armor Technique reached Great Accomplishment, he estimated they would be quickly depleted.

Of the five hundred Federal Coins he originally had, only one hundred remained after two hours of training in the training ground.

"Getting money is the top priority. I must acquire funds as soon as possible."

Chu Kuang checked the time and realized it was already past eleven at night.

However, he didn't choose to sleep. Instead, he directly clicked on the ranking matches, seizing the opportunity for a final sprint.

"There's still an hour left. It should be enough time."

Over the next few days, Chu Kuang played two consecutive matches. Perhaps due to losing two matches in a row, his hidden MMR had decreased, and his opponents in these two matches were not ranked very high.

His first opponent was ranked in the top 5,000. He hadn't mastered any Great Accomplishment advanced external martial arts. Chu Kuang defeated him after more than twenty exchanges.

His second opponent was ranked in the top 4,000. Chu Kuang defeated him after more than thirty exchanges.

It wasn't until his third match that he encountered an opponent ranked within the top 3,000.

[Xu Hong]

[School: Tian Heng Second Middle School]

[Rank: 2997]

[Wins 630: Losses 421]

[Win Rate: 60%]

"He's played over a thousand matches. It's like he treats the ranking matches as his home."

Chu Kuang showed a look of surprise, then quickly understood.

In the Tian Heng ranking matches, one could be matched with a large number of peers. Such life-or-death training could improve martial arts skills. Even if it was far less effective than the training ground, it was still a good place to hone martial arts skills over time.

After all, the training ground was too expensive, costing 200 Federal Coins per hour. Ordinary families could not afford it for long.

However, this person had played thousands of matches and only barely managed to break into the top three thousand. His strength was likely not much greater.

"Someone from Third Middle School."

At this moment, Xu Hong on the other side, seeing Chu Kuang's information, said with a somewhat cold gaze, "He entered the top three thousand in just thirteen matches. Another genius with a superior bone structure."

"Fine, I only fight geniuses."

As he spoke, the young man named Xu Hong suddenly drew his saber and charged forward like a ferocious tiger.

The saber strike was incredibly powerful. Before the person even arrived, the killing intent of the saber had already struck, making Chu Kuang feel a prickle of his hairs.

"Black Tiger Saber Technique—Great Accomplishment?"

Chu Kuang frowned slightly and quickly raised his spear to meet the attack, clashing with it repeatedly.

From the initial exchange, Chu Kuang understood why Xu Hong was stuck at rank 2997. His Life Level was clearly weaker, possibly not exceeding 4.8 at its peak.

With such a Life Level, his bone structure could be at most Third Grade. He had only managed to reach the top three thousand by relying on his martial arts talent to cultivate an advanced martial art to Great Accomplishment.

"If it weren't for the perk's enhancement, I might have actually been able to break your spear with a single saber strike."

"Unfortunately..."

Chu Kuang's thoughts raced. His great spear trembled violently, and a surge of powerful energy forcefully pushed Xu Hong's saber away. With an unstoppable force, he thrust towards the opponent.

"Just what I wanted!"

Unexpectedly, Xu Hong let out a loud laugh. He allowed Chu Kuang's spear to pierce his shoulder, then grabbed the spear and pulled out a short saber from behind him, slashing horizontally towards Chu Kuang's neck.

"Not good, Crouching Tiger Saber Technique."