Remember

Zhou Leng finished eating, his head drenched in sweat.

Li Linhan placed a paper box in front of Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng had seen this paper box in the display windows of martial arts malls more times than he could count.

It was a white paper box, sealed with a round transparent film. Three red characters in clerical script stood out strikingly on it:

Qi-Nourishing Pill.

Zhou Leng's heart gave a small leap.

Even without opening the box, Zhou Leng knew that three small medicine cases lay inside, one pill in each case.

This was the closest he had ever come to Qi-Nourishing Pills in all these years.

"Uncle Li, I can't accept this. Third Brother doesn't have enough of these himself. How about this—exchange them for three Meat Medicinal Diet meals instead?"

Li Linhan said, "The items have been given to you. What happens next is none of my business. If you don't want them, go tell him."

"He's at military academy, and he's at a critical stage now. If he doesn't come looking for me himself, I can't contact him at all."

Li Linhan tore open the paper box, unscrewed a medicine case, gave it a shake, and screwed it shut again.

"Once the medicine case is opened, if you don't take it within ten days, the medicinal effect will dissipate. You won't even be able to sell it. You decide what to do." Li Linhan smiled at Zhou Leng.

"You..." Zhou Leng looked helplessly at the three medicine cases.

Li Linhan stood up, patted Zhou Leng on the shoulder, and said, "Just accept your Third Brother's kindness. If you really want to repay him, then kill more Sirens and demons, and avenge... his older brother, older sister, and mother."

Zhou Leng's throat bobbed, but he could not say a single word.

"Enough. Hurry off to school." Li Linhan stuffed the three Qi-Nourishing Pills into Zhou Leng's hands and pushed him out.

Holding the three Qi-Nourishing Pills, Zhou Leng returned home. He sat there blankly for quite some time before carefully wrapping them layer after layer in plastic wrap and putting them into the refrigerator.

Zhou Leng's gaze swept over the electronic photo album.

"Then... I'll kill more Sirens and demons."

Zhou Leng circulated his cultivation to digest the Meat Medicinal Diet, then returned to his desk and wrote in his martial arts diary.

July 9.

Sunny.

The contents were the same as yesterday's.

With his backpack on and the lunchbox he had prepared the night before in hand, Zhou Leng ran all the way into No. 8 High School.

The classroom was buzzing with activity. Having finished the first two exams, the smiles on the students' faces had grown even brighter.

Especially those who did not plan to apply to Martial University—some of them had not even brought backpacks.

"You've got some nerve. You even dared to bring a phone? Did you apply to the teacher? Didn't your mom forbid you from bringing one?"

"I'm not applying to Martial University, so the teachers stopped caring ages ago. I begged my mom to buy it for me while we were at the mall yesterday. I was practically about to kneel on the floor, haha."

"That's nice."

"What's nice about it? I actually wanted a demonized miniature portable computer, but I was too embarrassed to ask."

"Take it easy. Even the cheapest demonized computers cost over a hundred thousand, and the high-end ones cost tens of millions. There's no need for a non-martial artist to carry one around. Let me see your phone..."

As Zhou Leng passed the two chatting classmates, he slipped his own phone into his pants pocket.

After taking his seat, Zhou Leng pulled out his hand-copied copy of Zhao Dongjun's Collected Works, Volume Two and slowly leafed through it.

The cover was tattered, and the pages inside had yellowed.

The second volume contained Martial Saint Zhao Dongjun's martial arts insights from the Blood Qi Realm.

Hu Yi, who was sitting on top of his desk, curled his lip. "You've read that book at least twenty times, haven't you?"

Zhou Leng said, "Teacher said that if you haven't read a Martial Saint's true teachings a hundred times, you don't deserve to learn martial arts. I can only force myself to keep reading."

"You..." Hu Yi suddenly changed the subject. "With that kind of diligence, you're definitely going to become a martial arts master! From now on, I'll be relying on you two."

After saying that, Hu Yi looked at Feng Wenhao beside him.

Feng Wenhao pushed up his glasses and asked, "What do you mean?"

Hu Yi stretched out both hands and placed one on Zhou Leng's shoulder and the other on Feng Wenhao's. "Someone with average talent and an average family background like me, as Teacher Sun says, can't accomplish anything and leaves nothing behind after eating. So I won't fight or scramble anymore. Blue Star will be entrusted to you two in the future."

"What kind of blow did you suffer?" Feng Wenhao asked.

Hu Yi burst out laughing. "I've finally figured life out and avoided fifty years of detours. Zhou Leng never accepts defeat even in death; even demons can't do anything to him. He'll charge down the martial arts path until the very end. What about you?"

Hu Yi looked at Feng Wenhao.

"I... don't know..." Feng Wenhao hesitated.

"I still want to take the martial arts path. I might not get into Martial University, but I have a chance at an Affiliated Martial Academy. If I really can't get in, I'll pursue martial arts research. If that doesn't work either, I'll apply for an ordinary major. If I lie flat, my dad will break my legs." Feng Wenhao said.

"That makes sense. Thinking about all those Qi-Nourishing Pills and Origin-Replenishing Pills you've eaten, your dad can't just let you do whatever you want. What level is your true qi at now?" Hu Yi asked.

"Fifth Heaven of Minor Accomplishment."

"Damn, those Qi-Nourishing Pills and Origin-Replenishing Pills weren't wasted on you. You're ranked eighteen thousand now, and with pills supporting you, you'll definitely get into an Affiliated Martial Academy after the Martial Examination."

"Hard to say..." Feng Wenhao smiled sheepishly.

Hu Yi laughed and cursed, "Quit pretending to be modest. If Zhou Leng had that many pills supporting him, even with his injuries, he could get into Martial University. Believe it or not?"

"Of course. No matter how Zhou Leng performs in the Martial Examination, he'll definitely become a martial arts master in the future!" Feng Wenhao said.

"Brother, don't jinx me," Zhou Leng said.

"Are you two still going to work at Pioneer Corporation after the college entrance exams?" Hu Yi asked.

"Yes," Zhou Leng said.

Feng Wenhao said helplessly, "I don't want to go, but my dad said I need to get exposed to society early and toughen myself up. I guess after the college entrance exams, the three of us will reunite in the slaughterhouse workshop."

"Three heartless executioners of demonic beasts..."

Everyone chatted and laughed. When the bell rang, the students slithered back to their seats like smooth snakes.

A middle-aged woman wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and blue-gray trousers entered the room and stepped onto the podium. From behind black-rimmed glasses, her sharp gaze swept across the entire class.

Class Three, Year Three fell utterly silent.

Xu Meijie, Class Three's homeroom teacher, slowly said, "Today is the last day of formal classes. Starting tomorrow, those who want to come to school to prepare for the exams may come. Those who don't can cultivate at home..."

Zhou Leng looked at his homeroom teacher. He normally felt nothing much, but today, for some reason, his heart felt hollow and uneasy.

It was as though something incredibly important was slowly drifting away, farther and farther, never to return.

"...Those who don't plan to apply to Martial University or an Affiliated Martial Academy shouldn't relax too much either. Don't disrupt the classmates pursuing martial cultivation..."

"...In these last few days, keep your dantian locked tight. You cannot let that breath slacken..."

"...The college entrance exam is very important. It may be one of the most important things in your lives. But in the end, it is only one of them. In your lives, what matters most..."

"...The road of your lives is still long. Walk it slowly, and walk it well..."

After speaking at length, Xu Meijie suddenly stopped. She looked at the whole class and fell silent.

Some students' eyes reddened.

Xu Meijie gave a rare smile. Turning sideways, she pointed at the wall between the blackboard and the door, where a red banner hung.

Her index finger tapped at it several times. It seemed as if something had clogged her throat, leaving her unable to speak.

It was the class motto.

"Rise!" the class monitor suddenly shouted as he sprang to his feet.

Amid the clatter of desks and chairs, every student stood.

"Our class motto is..." the class monitor shouted.

"Not for my own wish to be made a marquis, but only that the sea's waves be stilled!" the entire class shouted in unison, deafeningly loud.

Zhou Leng shouted with all his strength.

Xu Meijie smiled in gratification, nodded, and said, "You may forget the grammar in your textbooks. You may also forget martial arts methods and cultivation formulas. But I hope you remember these two lines. If... I mean, if someone forgets after growing up, that's all right. Then remember to let your children remember them. All right, it's about time. Go to the internal arts classroom."

Xu Meijie turned and left, while the students rose one after another.

As Zhou Leng stood, he found Hu Yi sitting there blankly, his eyes slightly red.

Zhou Leng walked over, patted Hu Yi on the shoulder, and said, "Let's go."

"Mm." Hu Yi lowered his head, pulled a tissue from his deskmate, wiped his nose, and followed Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao outside.

By the entrance to the internal arts classroom, most students entered while Xu Qingjin and the other three top martial arts students left for the advanced class to cultivate.

There were no desks or chairs in the internal arts classroom, only rows of meditation cushions.

Once everyone had taken their seats, their internal arts teacher, Sun Xiong, entered. After chatting for a while, he said, "Today is the final class. I'll only answer questions. If anyone has questions about cultivation or the Martial Examination, raise your hand and ask."

"Teacher, why does the Martial Examination only test true qi? Why don't we kill demonic beasts in actual combat? Even letting us practice on the weakest demonic beasts would work."

"Yeah..." A crowd of students chimed in.

"Sure. Have several million examinees across the country go kill demonic beasts, and then some of them die. Guess what your parents would do?"

Everyone fell silent.

"In the first few years of the Martial Examination, there really was practical combat against demonic beasts. The death rate was less than one in a thousand; there were just a few too many injuries. Guess how badly the authorities got cursed?"

The classroom was quiet for a while before another student asked, "Then can't we be tested through sparring against other people? We've been in high school for three years, but we've had very little real combat. I feel like a useless person."

"Test sparring? Then how would your scores be judged? You don't seriously think your scores would be decided by yourselves rather than your opponents or the Examiners, do you?"

The classroom fell quiet again. For some reason, the ignorant students felt a chill creep up their backs.

"The current Martial Examination system isn't merely imperfect. You could even say it is riddled with holes everywhere. But this Martial Examination, leaking drafts from every side, is the fairest thing for the overwhelming majority of people. Once you enter society, you'll understand. You'll never encounter anything this fair again."

Sun Xiong continued, "Qi, blood, body, force. The Blood Qi Realm is divided into Qi-Nourishing, Blood-Circulating, Body-Refining, and Force-Generating. Do you really think all these years of training were for nothing?"

"...Use qi to circulate blood, use blood to refine the body, use the body to generate force—this is the foundation of Martial Civilization! True qi is the foundation beneath the foundation..."

"...True qi truly is not everything, but the more abundant your true qi is, the greater your future achievements will be. Without true qi, there is no anything..."

"...With the Demon-Worshiping Cult within and demonic beasts from every realm without, why does the nation still let you sit quietly in class and cultivate true qi? It is because every grandmaster and Martial Saint knows full well..."

"...Letting you grow up quietly will bring enormous burdens in the short term, but in the long run, it is humanity's only path to survival..."

"...Let generation after generation of children live, then grow, grow, and grow again. That is the only path. The only one..."

"...Do you remember the Martial Ancestor's final words? Shout them with me! We must let..."

All the students shouted in unison, "We must let the desks before children remain quiet and peaceful."

Sun Xiong slowly said, "One day, you will encounter a desk worth protecting, just as your parents and your forebears did."

The students' eyes reddened.

After a long while, Sun Xiong said, "All right. Now ask your questions."

"Teacher, controlling true qi is too difficult. It's fine normally, but once I start moving and using techniques, the qi either gets blocked or becomes distorted..."

"Tell me specifically..."