Principal Lu

The students asked questions one after another. Sun Xiong listened carefully, then answered them.

Half an hour passed before Sun Xiong frowned. "It seems most of your questions are focused on qi control, and they come in all shapes and sizes. I've already advanced to the Force-Generating Stage, with qi, blood, body, and strength united as one. If I demonstrate it for you, you won't understand anyway. Zhou Leng, come over and demonstrate for the class as I tell you."

"Yes." Zhou Leng stepped forward and stood beside Sun Xiong.

"First, let's talk about how strength reaches the palm. Many of you have a misunderstanding here. You think true qi is a stream of air flowing from the dantian into the arm. That view is both right and wrong."

"In actual combat, true qi fills the entire body. At that point, it isn't a river, but an ocean. I've said it again and again: don't imagine true qi as a line. Imagine it as a force field, everywhere at once..."

"...Zhou Leng, demonstrate it..."

"...Look, Zhou Leng's use of true qi in this move is extremely precise..."

The teacher lectured, Zhou Leng demonstrated, and the students nodded lightly.

As class neared its end, Sun Xiong asked, "All right, does anyone still have questions?"

Feng Wenhao raised his hand. "I've actually always had a question about Zhou Leng. After he was injured, his internal cultivation remained at Minor Accomplishment, First Heaven. The quantity and intensity of his true qi barely increased, but his ability to control it improved astonishingly. His Wave-Stacking Palm and Eight Trigrams Step also advanced rapidly. Teacher, can you tell us why?"

Everyone looked toward Zhou Leng.

Sun Xiong smiled faintly. "Let Zhou Leng summarize what he did first, then I'll give you my opinion. Zhou Leng, tell them."

Zhou Leng fell silent for a moment before slowly saying, "It was a coincidence, really. You all know I was bedridden for more than a month. At the time, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't focus on textbooks either, so I could only read Zhao Dongjun's Collected Works."

"Only Martial Saint Zhao's collected works could soothe my unease at the time."

"The first and second volumes both recorded something Martial Saint Zhao did. Whenever Martial Saint Zhao was injured and unable to practice, he would use 'Mind Training.'"

"That meant closing his eyes and repeatedly going over every detail of his martial arts moves in his mind. The key was to make those details as fine as possible. Martial Saint Zhao said that if you couldn't recreate a particular detail in your mind, it meant you hadn't practiced it thoroughly enough. You hadn't trained that martial art into your brain."

"Yes, you heard that right. What Martial Saint Zhao said was very unusual, so it stayed fresh in my memory. He said that you had to train the skills in your body into your brain, and train the skills in your brain into your body..."

"At that time, I kept reading Zhao Dongjun's Collected Works, kept watching online instructional videos, kept memorizing relevant cultivation processes, and kept recreating details in my mind... That period was probably when I used my brain more than at any other point in my life."

"This kind of cultivation didn't tire the body. It tired the brain, so the exhaustion felt even more intense..."

"Then, my ability to control true qi gradually strengthened. And because I gave up everything else to specialize in the Wave-Stacking Palm and Eight Trigrams Step, those two external arts improved instead. That was roughly it."

The students silently pondered his words.

Sun Xiong said, "Very good. Let me give you my view."

"Zhou Leng overlooked something crucial: spirit, or will—in other words, the Martial Will you often hear about. For innate experts, this is a basic skill. But for most people, it is elusive and uncertain."

"My guess is that Zhou Leng was able to do those things from his sickbed because he experienced the threshold between life and death. The torment and pain did not crush him. Instead, they stirred his will to survive, or perhaps his will to cultivate."

"In short, his spirit underwent a very rare tempering. Combined with the cultivation methods of a Martial Saint, that was why he advanced instead of falling back."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"There's one more point, and this is also just my guess. In the past, he mostly cultivated with his body. But this time, lying in bed, he was forced to cultivate with his mind nonstop. By a stroke of blind luck, his brain was trained until it opened up." Sun Xiong laughed.

The others laughed along with him.

"Many of the finer details here may have been luck, may have been coincidence. You can't learn those things. But Zhou Leng's spirit of refusing to lose heart in the face of injury and illness is something all of you can theoretically achieve. I believe that if you possess Zhou Leng's spirit, it won't be long before you, too, uncover your own talents and then break through..."

The internal cultivation class ended, and everyone left one after another. Sun Xiong said, "Zhou Leng, stay behind."

Zhou Leng walked over. Hu Yi and Feng Wenhao stood by the door.

Sun Xiong said, "I know a little about your situation. I wasn't joking earlier. I suspect you may have awakened a low-level Martial Will, but it's too faint, and your Martial Path Perception isn't strong enough, so you didn't sense it."

Zhou Leng nodded gently.

"However, your injuries really have too great an impact on both the academic and physical examinations. There are more than seventy thousand students in the city. Even if a miracle happens, it will be hard for you to enter the Affiliated Martial Academy, let alone a martial arts university."

"Yes," Zhou Leng admitted.

"I have two suggestions. First, keep up this kind of Mind Training. You should know that many people have no way of cultivating like this. Many who are more talented and stronger than you cannot achieve Inner Vision Like a Painting as easily as you can."

Zhou Leng nodded.

"My second suggestion is that if you fail to get into the Affiliated Martial Academy, never give up. I can't say whether you're suited for the Martial Dao, because the current system has no way to test it. Even Martial Saint Zhao said that whether it is technological civilization or Martial Civilization, the existing education and selection systems can never cover every angle. Some people will always be overlooked."

"I... want to fight my way back into West Sea Demon City," Zhou Leng said slowly.

"Good!" Sun Xiong said. "When your results come out, if you can't get into the Affiliated Martial Academy, come find me. We'll discuss a path suited to you. I can't promise what you'll become, but I can guarantee that you won't fall too far behind your classmates of the same period."

"Thank you, Teacher Sun!"

Sun Xiong rose and patted Zhou Leng on the shoulder. "Go on."

After internal cultivation class, everyone headed to different major external arts classes according to the martial arts they practiced.

Hu Yi went to the finger techniques classroom, Feng Wenhao went to the boxing classroom, and Zhou Leng went to the palm techniques classroom.

After the palm techniques class, the three met again in the outdoor footwork class...

Some teachers answered questions, some explained deeper martial principles, and some described life at martial arts universities, setting the students' imaginations running wild.

The moment the noon dismissal bell rang, students poured out of classrooms everywhere.

Some flooded toward the main cafeteria, some headed for the smaller cafeteria, and some remained in their classrooms.

Together with the class labor representative, Zhou Leng and the other two carried the large food basket holding Class Three's lunchboxes back to the classroom. Some students gathered around to find their own lunchboxes.

As usual, the three opened their aluminum lunchboxes and spread them across the desk.

After lunch, the three quickly rinsed their lunchboxes. On the way back, they looked through the corridor windows and saw people leaving the small cafeteria one after another downstairs.

Xu Qingjin's ponytail swayed amid the crowd.

"They're probably eating Meat Medicinal Diets every day these past few days. The food at the small cafeteria is seriously mouthwatering," Hu Yi said.

"Either get into an elite class, or spend over ten thousand a month on food. We can't afford it," Feng Wenhao said.

Just then, the familiar broadcast sounded.

"...We wish all third-year students..."

"...As in previous years... the college entrance examination rewards established by No. 8 High School this time..."

"...Those admitted to Yunhua or Jinjing University will receive ten Qi-Nourishing Pills, three Origin-Replenishing Pills, and three Blood-Washing Pills..."

"...Those admitted to the Martial Arts Ten will receive three Qi-Nourishing Pills and one Origin-Replenishing Pill..."

"...At the same time, a Martial Examination Improvement Award will be established. For every increase of ten thousand places in the city rankings, one Qi-Nourishing Pill will be awarded..."

"...The person with the greatest improvement who also rises by over thirty thousand places will be the Improvement Champion, receiving an additional Origin-Replenishing Pill and a martial arts instructional video of their choice worth 1,000 battle merit points or Contribution Value..."

Everyone acted as though they had not heard it, but Zhou Leng froze.

A flame rose in Zhou Leng's heart.

After the college entrance examination, his monthly subsidy of more than a thousand yuan would end.

Zhou Leng had originally hesitated over whether he should specialize in the Martial Dao and compete for the "martial arts bonus," or put martial arts aside for now to earn money, then resume cultivation after saving enough.

But if he could gain an extra three Qi-Nourishing Pills and one Origin-Replenishing Pill, his strength would surely rise by a small margin.

At that point, he could directly earn martial arts bonuses.

Whether by challenging the Eighteen Bronze Men Formation, going to Demon City to kill enemies and accumulate battle merit, or through other methods, he could support himself. It would pay far more than working a regular job.

Even selling the pills in exchange for cultivation time would be worth it.

Improving by thirty thousand places seemed difficult for others, but that Mysterious Forest, that Frost Giant Tree...

Zhou Leng sank into thought.

"What's wrong with you..." Hu Yi suddenly reached out and lightly patted Zhou Leng's shoulder.

In the next instant, Zhou Leng slanted half a step back to dodge. His right hand rose to block, only to stop in an instant.

At the same time, true qi surged.

???

Hu Yi and Feng Wenhao were both full of question marks as they stared wide-eyed at Zhou Leng.

"Qi Follows the Body? You probably haven't reached that point, but you're close," Hu Yi said.

Feng Wenhao glared. "We agreed to slack off together, but you secretly broke through!"

"I was just thinking about variations of the Eight Trigrams Step. Hu Yi happened to strike at me, so I moved," Zhou Leng made up an excuse.

"So that's what it was. I thought you'd not only recovered, but improved by a huge step."

"But your complexion really is much better than it was last week."

"Let's go back to the classroom." Zhou Leng changed the subject.

Hu Yi and Feng Wenhao did not think much of it and returned to the classroom with him.

After the lunch break, they had another two classes. After that came the time to ask teachers questions.

When the dismissal bell rang, all students except those in the martial arts elite classes left. They no longer had martial arts evening self-study sessions as they had before.

The three walked together to the entrance and saw a familiar elderly man with white hair and a white beard smiling at the students leaving the school.

"Goodbye, Principal!" The third-year students bowed to Principal Lu one after another.

"Goodbye, Principal." Zhou Leng bowed as well.

"Zhou Leng, take good care of your illness." Principal Lu kindly patted Zhou Leng's upper left arm.

"Thank you, Principal!" Zhou Leng said.

After leaving the school gates, Hu Yi said, "Our Principal Lu is really impressive. He even called me by name a few days ago."

"His martial arts talent just isn't high, and people of his generation didn't practice martial arts from childhood. Otherwise, he really might have become a big shot."

"The head of a school is already a big shot, all right?"

The three looked back at the gates of No. 8 High School. Strangely, none of them spoke. They silently headed home.