Basic Qi and Blood Potion

Basic Qi and Blood Potion

Logically speaking, senior-year students were already under enough pressure. It was not a topic they should have been asked about at such a sensitive time.

Besides, there were still nine months until the National College Entrance Examination.

It was only because Li Changzhou was about to leave on a long journey, and because he believed Li Yuan would not be affected, that he asked.

Aunt Chen Hui could not help looking at Li Yuan. Having taken care of his daily life for so long, she naturally cared about him too.

"College application choices?" Li Yuan pondered briefly before saying, "Uncle, Auntie, I still plan to become a full-time martialist. My first goal is one of the nation's Five Great Prestigious Schools of Martial Arts."

"If I fail to get in, I'll strive to enter the 'Martialist Class' at Jiangbei Martial Arts University."

A full-time martialist?

Li Changzhou and Chen Hui exchanged a glance, a trace of worry surfacing in their eyes.

Not every student who graduated from a Martial Arts University ultimately became a full-time martialist.

Li Changzhou, for example, had attended a Martial Arts University and earned fairly good grades, but had ultimately studied another specialty alongside martial arts.

A martialist's advantages over ordinary people were comprehensive. Even in ordinary jobs, a martialist's energy and speed of thought far surpassed those of normal people, making them far more likely to achieve great things.

And a full-time martialist, as the name implied, devoted heart and soul to the martial path, striving to go further in martial arts—but it was also far more dangerous.

Because the further martialists progressed in their cultivation, the more they often had to endure all kinds of life-and-death struggles to improve...

"Xiao Yuan, can't you study another specialty as well? After graduation, taking the civil service exam or becoming a martial arts teacher would both be quite good." Chen Hui could not help saying.

In her eyes, Li Yuan was no different from Li Muhua.

She was like a mother, and what worried her most was Li Yuan's safety.

To her, becoming a civil servant or martial arts teacher was the best kind of job.

"A full-time martialist?" Li Changzhou did not object outright. After considering it, he said, "Can you get into one of the Five Great Prestigious Schools? Your school probably only gets a few students admitted each year, right? Did you awaken Martial Arts Spirituality in today's test?"

Li Changzhou understood very well how difficult it was to get into one of the Five Great Prestigious Schools.

Jiangbei Martial Arts University enrolled ten thousand students in Jiangbei Province every year.

Yet the Five Great Prestigious Schools of Martial Arts combined only enrolled around ten thousand students nationwide each year.

In Jiangbei Province, they recruited only several hundred students in a typical year.

"I didn't awaken it." Li Yuan shook his head.

"You didn't awaken it, then you..." Li Changzhou frowned.

"But in today's school assessment, my physical fitness was Level 6.5." Li Yuan said. "My Martial Arts Technique score was over 360."

Li Changzhou's eyes lit up, and even his face showed a trace of excitement he could not conceal.

He understood the weight behind Li Yuan's words.

"Really?" Chen Hui was also quite surprised.

She remembered that although Li Yuan had been excellent at the end of last semester, he seemed nowhere near this good.

Especially his physical fitness—he had risen by 0.5 levels in the blink of an eye? That was astonishing.

"Teacher Xu Bo tested me personally, and the Martial Arts Technique score used National College Entrance Examination standards," Li Yuan added.

Xu Bo had tested him?

Li Changzhou nodded slightly.

He knew of Xu Bo. The man had some reputation throughout Guanshan District.

Previously, when Li Changzhou had learned that Xu Bo had become Li Yuan's martial arts homeroom teacher, he had been delighted, believing Li Yuan had gained a good teacher.

"Good!"

"Xiao Yuan, if this continues, forget getting into one of the Five Great Prestigious Schools—even entering Jiangda's 'Martialist Class' is highly likely." Li Changzhou smiled. This was the best news he had heard all day.

Li Yuan looked at his uncle and aunt, sighing inwardly.

He had originally planned to give them a surprise during the January Adjustment Exam.

But with his uncle about to travel far away, after thinking it over, Li Yuan still wanted to let him rest a little easier.

What parents worried about most was their children's safety, followed by their children's future.

"There's no rush about college applications. Whether you become a full-time martialist or not can wait until you get into a Martial Arts University. Decide once you're in college," Li Changzhou instructed. "For now, just work hard."

"I understand." Li Yuan nodded heavily.

"For now, it's enough that you know about my trip to the Northern Frontier." Li Changzhou added, "After I'm gone, help your aunt look after your younger brother and sister when you have time... All right, you've had a tiring day. Go back to your room and rest first."

"Mm." Li Yuan thought about it, but ultimately said nothing about the Third-Class Financial Aid.

He got up and left the master bedroom.

The door closed.

"Old Li." Chen Hui looked at Li Changzhou, anger in her voice. "Just now, were you supporting Xiao Yuan becoming a full-time martialist?"

She truly was angry.

"Didn't you hear his scores?" Li Changzhou shook his head. "A Martial Arts Technique score above 360—at that rate of improvement... Big Brother's Martial Arts Technique score in his National College Entrance Examination back then did not seem to be that high either."

"You still remember Big Brother." Chen Hui gritted her teeth. "Big Brother and Sister-in-law, back then, to save us..."

"Stop." Li Changzhou frowned.

"You won't let me say it, but I insist on saying it." Chen Hui abruptly rose to her feet, staring at her husband, her eyes slightly red. "Big Brother and Sister-in-law helped us so much. They only left behind Xiao Yuan. Don't you know how dangerous it is to be a full-time martialist?"

"Of your old classmates who chose the path of full-time martialists, how many are still alive?"

"I know what you mean." Li Changzhou looked at his wife, sighed softly, and pulled her down to sit.

"But the child has grown up. He has his own will."

"We can only advise him, not force him." Li Changzhou said. "After I leave, you can slowly try to persuade him."

"Besides, the path of a full-time martialist is not so easy to walk."

"How many students admitted into Martial Arts Universities do not long to become full-time martialists? Yet in the end, very few walk this road."

"Once he enters college and learns that there are always greater people beyond greater people, even if we do not persuade him, he will calm down on his own." Li Changzhou said.

Only then did Chen Hui reluctantly nod.

"Wife, stay with me a little longer." Li Changzhou drew his wife into his arms.

Chen Hui quieted down and leaned against her husband's chest.

Time passed.

As midnight approached.

"The children should all be asleep." Li Changzhou finally stood up and said in a low voice, "Wife, I should go. Otherwise, I won't make the high-speed train."

"Once I reach the Northern Frontier and the five hundred thousand subsidy promised by the state comes through, I'll transfer it to you."

"The family... is in your hands."

Inside Li Yuan's room.

The lights were off. Only the faint glow of streetlamps and moonlight shone in through the window.

In the room of less than twenty square meters, aside from two wardrobes and a miniature household Virtual Network Pod that occupied around two square meters—

The rest of the space was completely empty.

One of the wardrobes in Li Yuan's room had been designed as a foldable Murphy bed.

The purpose was to save space and make it easier for him to perform simple cultivation at home.

However, ever since awakening the Mind Divine Palace in his second year of high school, Li Yuan had rarely used the Murphy bed, mostly sitting directly on the wooden floor.

Today was no exception.

"Mm?" Li Yuan, seated cross-legged on the floor, twitched his ears slightly.

His powerful physical fitness gave him hearing beyond that of ordinary people, and with the deep night so quiet, he was highly sensitive to even the slightest sound.

"Uncle left?"

Li Yuan heard the faint sound of the front door opening and closing. He rose like a civet cat without making the slightest noise.

He came to the window.

Half a minute later, Li Yuan saw his uncle Li Changzhou hurrying out of the apartment entrance with a suitcase.

After taking a few steps, Li Changzhou paused and looked back up at the building. Then, without lingering any longer, he vanished around the bend in the road.

Li Yuan stood before the window for a long time.

"Uncle, are you truly willing to go to the Northern Frontier?" Li Yuan sighed inwardly.

His uncle's words—"Someone always has to go"—had deeply moved him.

Ever since Li Yuan was young, his uncle had been filled with devotion to family and country, and had always guided him.

But in Li Yuan's view, the situation in the Northern Frontier did not seem to have reached that point yet.

"Uncle is going not only because of the nation's call, but probably also because of that enormous subsidy." Li Yuan's gaze dimmed slightly. "Muhua and I are cultivating martial arts at the same time. The family's financial pressure is too great."

He raised his hand.

Buzz~ Soundlessly, a beam of light shot from Li Yuan's wrist, forming a transparent projected screen before his chest.

What appeared on it was a mass of war reports concerning the Luo Bu Hai Star Realm, including news on "combat subsidies" and "support subsidies."

"I must get into one of the Five Great Prestigious Schools of Martial Arts." Li Yuan silently vowed, his determination growing ever stronger.

Whoosh!

Li Yuan came to the wardrobe by the window and pressed lightly. The cabinet door sprang open under the pressure.

Aside from clothes, all that appeared before Li Yuan was a specially made metal box. The pattern on its casing depicted an endless starry sky, dazzling with radiant light.

This was the emblem of the Starry Sky Martial Hall, one of the Three Martial Halls.

He opened the box.

"Basic Qi and Blood Potion." Li Yuan stared at the two rows of ten potion bottles standing upright in the box. Nine were empty, and only one remained intact.

He took out the final bottle and held it in his hand.

"Two thousand Blue Star Coins per bottle." Li Yuan stared at the exquisite medicine bottle. Its body was nearly transparent, smooth and delicate, with a faint chill to it in his hand.

It was a specially made bottle, capable of preserving the medicine's potency for a long time.

Through the bottle, he could see the crimson liquid flowing within. Under the faint moonlight, it looked slightly scarlet, vaguely giving off a sense of life and vitality.

This was the standard Basic Qi and Blood Potion.

Ordinary meals, even nutritious meals, could only ensure that one's qi and blood did not run dry during high-intensity body tempering.

But if one wanted to increase the speed of physical evolution, one needed all manner of precious potions and treasures.

As far as Li Yuan knew, many precious medicines were more effective than standard qi and blood potions, but they were also far more expensive.

In terms of cost-effectiveness, the Basic Qi and Blood Potion was the best among cultivation-supporting medicines.

But even so, a single bottle still cost two thousand Blue Star Coins.

Li Yuan consumed one bottle every three days in cultivation.

Over the course of a month, he spent around twenty thousand Blue Star Coins on Basic Qi and Blood Potions alone.

Adding the cost of his daily meals.

Li Yuan spent close to thirty thousand Blue Star Coins a month on cultivation supplies.

That did not include clothing, class fees, and other expenses.

And then there were Li Qianqian and Li Muhua... The financial burden carried by his uncle and aunt was easy to imagine.

"By schedule, I should drink one today." Li Yuan gently pulled out the stopper.

An unusual scent spread through the air.

"Gulp~" Li Yuan skillfully tipped his head back and drank the entire bottle of Basic Qi and Blood Potion.

He made sure not a single drop remained.

Only then did he place the empty bottle back in the box.

Very quickly, Li Yuan felt waves of heat spreading from within his body, gradually diffusing through every part of him and being greedily devoured by his sinews, bones, and muscles.

It felt very comfortable.

"After three days of frantic cultivation, the effects of the previous bottle have basically worn off. My bones, sinews, and muscles are ravenous right now." Li Yuan was very satisfied with the medicine's effects.

"Mm."

"Past midnight. It's time to cultivate the Great Sun Starry Sky Sutra." Li Yuan sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Gradually, his heart emptied and his spirit drew inward.

His consciousness focused within his mind.

Boom!

Soundlessly, his consciousness arrived at a mysterious place.

There, an unusual palace floated in the void.

(End of Chapter)