Third Stage (Third Update—Please Vote and Follow)

"Black Tiger Fist has finally reached Minor Accomplishment!"

Shi Ruyu said that even someone with middling aptitude would need at least half a year to go from Initiation to Minor Accomplishment at the early, lower stages. Those who could reach Minor Accomplishment within half a year either had exceptional comprehension or superior aptitude.

Once one's martial realm was high enough, thanks to seeing from a lofty height and drawing inferences from one instance to another, even those with inferior aptitude would learn ordinary martial arts faster.

Take Martial Artists, for example. So long as they wished to learn, these third-rate ordinary martial arts would come easily to hand. But by then, mastering ordinary martial arts was practically worthless to them. Spending that time on them would be a loss that outweighed the gain.

Better to devote themselves to researching True Skill.

All of a sudden, an idea struck Lu Chenzhou.

"I have the Martial Dao Tree panel. If I am fortunate enough to step into the Martial Artist realm in the future, perhaps I can try learning more ordinary martial arts. After grinding them to Perfection, I could condense Divine Seeds. Basic Fist Art's Fistheart Without Regret can increase my comprehension of fist arts slightly. Other ordinary martial arts might have similar effects.

"If the effects of Divine Seeds can stack, I can forcibly pile up my martial comprehension. That way, my cultivation speed will only grow faster and faster. My current speed should only be above average; it still falls short of those with superior aptitude, much less a Martial Bone Dao Fetus... If I want to pursue higher realms, this is nowhere near enough!"

He felt that this idea was highly feasible.

The Martial Dao Tree still held much untapped potential.

"But forget that for now. In the early stages, raising my realm comes first. I need to break the First Shackles as soon as possible and gain the special ability to fight Void Entities. Only then can I protect myself!"

The more Lu Chenzhou thought about it, the more excited he became.

He felt as though he had drawn just a trace closer to the Azure Heaven Dragon King above the clouds.

"Chenzhou, stop fighting. Come down and eat."

"Right away. This round is almost over."

Lu Chenzhou's Basic Fist Art had reached Perfection long ago. He had stopped practicing at the school field ages ago, instead finishing his training at home, eating breakfast, and heading straight to class.

At the dining table.

Li Xianghua looked at the increasingly sturdy Lu Chenzhou and asked,

"Did you measure your height? Why do I feel like you've grown taller?"

Lu Chenzhou said,

"I did grow. I've grown one centimeter in the past half year. I'm 181 now."

Li Xianghua let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good."

She had always worried that her son would grow too tall to find a wife.

"I'm still in my growth period. This is normal development and has little to do with martial arts. Teacher Ji said that before breaking the Shackles, an ordinary person's body can withstand the changes brought by increased vitality and blood. Training won't alter one's physical structure."

Li Xianghua's concern was like those beauty-conscious girls who spent all day worrying that a few workouts at the gym would give them muscular legs... she was simply overthinking it.

Before breaking the Shackles, a person's height was mostly determined by genetics.

"Mom understands. Eat up."

The more Li Xianghua looked at Lu Chenzhou, the prouder she felt.

Meanwhile, after finishing breakfast, Lu Guoping left the house in a foul mood.

"Mom, what's wrong with Dad?"

Li Xianghua was silent for a long while.

In the end, she told Lu Chenzhou the truth. Because of the turmoil caused by the Void Calamity, Lu Guoping's company production had been affected recently, and business had not been doing well.

Work had now resumed, but many lower-level employees had also suffered pay cuts. Lu Guoping's original monthly base salary of nine thousand had been chopped in half, straight down to five thousand. If he refused to accept it, they would find every possible way to make his life miserable and force him to resign voluntarily.

That way, they would not have to pay compensation.

Who could he reason with over this? Arbitration was too troublesome a process, and he could not afford to lose his job. But if he did not seek arbitration, he would keep a bellyful of anger bottled up inside. Li Xianghua advised him to let it go and muddle through. Compared to those employees who had been "optimized," Lu Guoping was already doing well. Once their son got into Wuda, he would be able to hold his head high.

Lu Guoping had already thought of how he would show off his son to certain supervisors. One minor manager of his had supposedly spent more than a million on martial arts lessons for his child.

Yet let alone Pingjiang Martial University,

the child did not even qualify for the special admissions exams of other third-rate Wudas.

"My son hardly spent any money. He barely signed up for martial arts halls and learned mostly by himself. Maybe his comprehension is decent—he actually got into Pingjiang Martial University!"

Thinking of this on the road, Lu Guoping hummed a little tune as he hurried toward the subway.

"Mom, I'm off to class."

"Go on, and come back early."

Lu Chenzhou headed to school as well.

Today was another end-of-month exam.

He had spent even less time studying last month. He felt that he probably would not be able to improve his ranking this time, but it did not matter. Staying in the top twenty was enough.

Martial arts came first!

That evening, at Flying Swallow Martial Arts Hall.

The vitality-and-blood testing machine.

Lu Chenzhou effortlessly finished a set of Basic Fist Art. Qin Zheng, who had come to practice with him, watched eagerly, unconsciously comparing it to his own fist art.

Qin Zheng realized that what he practiced was not fist art. It was shit!

Nearly half a year had passed, and he still had not reached Perfection.

What the hell!

Vitality and blood value: 1.72. Congratulations, you have reached the Second Stage standard.

Lu Chenzhou frowned slightly.

"Only 0.01 short of the Third Stage."

He walked out of the vitality-and-blood testing room.

Because of the soundproofing, Qin Zheng had not heard much of the reading.

"How much?"

"Still Second Stage."

"That's good. I thought you were about to reach the Third Stage."

Lu Chenzhou said nothing, knowing Qin Zheng was only joking.

Qin Zheng asked,

"How far are you from the Third Stage?"

"0.01."

"..."

Qin Zheng stood rooted to the spot. A moment later, he could not help looking up at the sky.

He wanted to let out a long howl, but after thinking it over, he decided against it.

No loud noises were allowed in the martial arts hall.

"Chenzhou, you really are a beast!"

He had only barely reached 1.6, and that was with a constant supply of martial arts supplements. His family had even found him a Fifth Stage home martial arts instructor—the kind who stayed at the house long-term like a nanny and could double as a bodyguard.

Things had been unsettled lately.

Qin Zheng was stubborn and refused to leave Su City.

His father had no choice but to temporarily shelve the moving plans. Instead, he found a capable Fifth Stage expert with a Void Blade Possession Qualification Certificate to protect the family.

Even with conditions like that, Qin Zheng still could not catch up to Lu Chenzhou.

He was truly despairing.

During the public class.

Lu Chenzhou still taught everyone the Sea-Skimming Body in Shi Ruyu's stead. Shi Ruyu had retreated to the second line, responsible for guiding everyone in other areas. The two worked together seamlessly.

Du Men sparred with Lu Chenzhou.

His strength had improved somewhat lately. His Swallow Return Fist had grown stronger, and his Basic Fist Art had also reached Perfection some time ago. Unfortunately, he still could not compare to Lu Chenzhou.

Lu Chenzhou was more proficient in Sea-Skimming Body.

The gap in vitality and blood between him and Du Men was growing smaller and smaller.

In their sparring matches, Lu Chenzhou won seven out of ten, while Du Men won three.

Du Men no longer felt discouraged. He merely held in a breath of frustration and trained his fists with all his might.

He swore that one day, he would personally cut down a Void Entity.

The next day.

After finishing his Heaven Stance training, Lu Chenzhou wiped away his sweat.

He could clearly feel a force growing within his body.

That force came from the Shaochong Acupoint.

Yes, he had successfully condensed his fourth acupoint.

Cultivation Technique

Dragon-Tiger Heaven Stance: Fourth Acupoint Open

"Third Stage."