Exploiting a Bug, Rapidly Rising Proficiency

Inside the Body Tempering Room.

A group of boys and girls had all stopped what they were doing. They gathered in a circle, staring fixedly at the two figures in the middle of the room as if they were looking at monsters.

"Damn, where did this monster come from?!"

"Even a Fifth Grade Base Skill can't match his body. That's insane."

"Is there someone like that in our circle?"

They discussed it in low voices, their faces full of disbelief.

Those who could become Zhou Wuliang's students were no ordinary people. Some had come from New Star, while others belonged to prestigious families on the Ancestral Star. Yet now, these favored children of heaven had been deeply shocked by the sight before them.

"I've never heard of someone like this in North Sea. Luo Fan, Mo Ya, did he come from New Star?" asked a tall Youth wearing a black tank top in a deep voice.

Luo Fan was an unremarkable-looking Youth of average height, except for his exceptionally long arms, which nearly reached past his knees. Watching what was happening before him, he tried his best to keep his voice calm, but it still trembled slightly.

"Never heard of him. If he came from New Star, with talent like his, there's no way he could have remained unknown."

"I've never heard of him either. Bone Root talent like that is a little too monstrous, isn't it?" Mo Ya wore red robes. A red mole rested at the corner of her right eye, and her features were delicate.

As she looked toward the center of the room, her eyes were already filled with shock.

At that moment, several beads of sweat had seeped from Li Hu's forehead, and his palm trembled almost imperceptibly.

The tower-like man had lost all the bold vigor he possessed earlier. He looked more like a humble programmer who had been hollowed out from the inside.

Looking at Su Tu before him, his voice carried a trace of weakness.

"Xiao Tu... you still haven't felt anything?"

Su Tu was currently following the movements displayed on the virtual screen in front of him. Every muscle in his body was taut, and he was meticulous to the extreme. Every movement was flawlessly standard.

Li Hu's Qi roamed through his body, yet instead of the pain Li Hu had described—"blood vessels tearing, steel bars piercing through the body"—he felt as though he were soaking in a hot spring. His whole body felt warm and comfortable.

"Brother Tiger... I actually do feel a little something," Su Tu said somewhat embarrassedly.

Since the Luojia Skill, Li Hu had switched him through more than thirty Base Skills, yet not one had caused Su Tu's body to react. Li Hu had also guided him through the process more than thirty times.

Drawing Qi into the Body was delicate work. Once or twice might not amount to much, but after more than thirty rounds, even Li Hu felt utterly drained.

But in order not to lose face before his junior brother, he gritted his teeth and endured.

"Xiao Tu, honestly, you're really bad at lying. I'm afraid this Tinglin Skill won't make you feel anything either, will it?"

Li Hu shook the sweat from his head, looking at Su Tu as though he were staring at a monster.

A Base Skill was the foundational skill, the thing that forged a martial artist's foundations. Cultivating one was agonizing beyond compare, no less painful than stripping away and reforging all the flesh, blood, and meridians throughout one's body.

That was because the principle of a Base Skill was to establish after breaking—drawing out the power of blood and Qi to bear the Heaven and Earth Qi. The stronger one's Bone Root talent, the stronger the Base Skill needed to reforge their flesh and blood, and vice versa.

If someone with weak Bone Roots cultivated a high-grade Base Skill, the instant Qi entered their body, their Bone Roots would shatter and their meridians would all snap. But if someone with exceptional Bone Roots cultivated a low-grade Base Skill, it would be completely useless. They might not even feel the slightest thing.

Most people who came into contact with martial arts had been cultivated from childhood. Since they were young, they had consumed who knew how many nutrient solutions, body-tempering medicines, and even undergone electrical stimulation. Yet even so, most could only withstand a First Grade Base Skill.

Even among Zhou Wuliang's other students, those two geniuses from New Star seemed to cultivate no more than Third Grade Base Skills.

But what about Su Tu? An ordinary person who had never encountered martial arts before, yet even the Tinglin Skill produced no reaction in him. One had to know that the Tinglin Skill was a Fifth Grade Base Skill!

What kind of concept was that?

With every additional grade of a Base Skill, the pressure and intensity the body needed to withstand increased tenfold from before!

If an ordinary person tried to forge their foundation with a Fifth Grade Base Skill, their flesh and blood would collapse in an instant!

Yet Su Tu had no reaction at all to the Tinglin Skill. This meant that even a Fifth Grade Base Skill could not fully awaken his body's talent.

What the hell kind of monster was this?!

Li Hu's feelings were extremely complicated. He had never imagined that the disciple his teacher had casually accepted because of a promise would possess such terrifying physical talent. It was simply beyond his imagination.

A Fifth Grade Base Skill... perhaps that had already reached the level of a martial arts New Star, or even surpassed it.

"How about we take a break?" Su Tu smiled faintly at Li Hu's words. Compared to Li Hu, whose face looked completely drained, Su Tu was bright-eyed and refreshed.

The reason was simple: every time Su Tu switched Base Skills, a system prompt would appear.

You have ended cultivation of the Wind Sand Skill. Body Strengthening Proficiency +10

You have ended cultivation of the Dust Fall Skill. Body Strengthening Proficiency +10

You have ended

Ended.

You have ended cultivation of the Tinglin Skill. Body Strengthening Proficiency +3

Although the Proficiency granted was getting lower and lower, he had still gained a total of 239 Proficiency.

Just striking a few poses and being able to visibly watch himself grow stronger—this feeling was simply too good.

However, Su Tu had also realized that this bug-like method of farming was probably at its limit. To steadily increase his Proficiency, he still needed to master a Base Skill suited to him.

"Xiao Tu. To be honest, the Tinglin Skill is already the highest-grade Base Skill in our school." Li Hu's voice held a hint of helplessness.

"Huh?" Su Tu was stunned when he heard that.

A situation he had never anticipated had appeared. Su Tu's physical talent was so high that he could not complete a Base Skill and stir his blood and Qi, leaving him unable to even enter the path of martial arts...

"Try this Base Skill."

Just as Su Tu and Li Hu stood facing each other in speechless silence, Zhou Wuliang's voice rang out. At some point, the old man had appeared beside them.

Neither the two of them nor the other six students in the entire Body Tempering Room had noticed his presence. Had he not taken the initiative to speak, they might not have discovered the old man even now.

Luo Fan's eyes shifted slightly, and his voice was almost inaudible. "Mind Rank Du Jiu!"

"Master."

"Teacher." Su Tu and Li Hu greeted the old man standing beside them.

It was as if he had been standing right beside them all along, only about a fist's distance away. Yet Su Tu had felt nothing throughout the entire time. Only when the old man handed a battered notebook to him did he realize the other man was there.

That feeling again!!

Su Tu thought to himself. It was that sensation of someone being right within reach, yet seeming to be separated by an entire stretch of land.

The thing hidden in the shadows that day had given him the same feeling, though that monster had not been as powerful as Zhou Wuliang.

Su Tu could sense some things, but when facing Zhou Wuliang, he only felt that even if he kept his eyes fixed on him, the other man would vanish the very next second, as though they had never belonged to the same world.

Zhou Wuliang sent a virtual screen before Su Tu.

On the screen was a tiny figure sitting cross-legged, its entire body radiating golden light.

"Seventh Grade Base Skill!!!" Li Hu's eyes shook as he looked at the Base Skill.

Moon Stepping Martial Arts Hall indeed only possessed Fifth Grade Base Skills, because higher-level Base Skills were no longer something ordinary students could access.

Even among the Myriad Races of the Universe, a Seventh Grade Base Skill was an exceedingly precious technique whose value was impossible to measure. Those who were not martial arts blazing suns could not cultivate it; those without heaven-defying talent could not even hope to glimpse it.

Even Li Hu was not qualified to cultivate this Base Skill.

Su Tu now understood what a Seventh Grade Base Skill represented. Since such an opportunity had fallen into his hands, he naturally could not let it pass him by!

He copied the movements on the screen, gently closed his eyes, and drew his mind inward.

Zhou Wuliang looked at Su Tu with complicated eyes. In truth, when Li Hu had switched Su Tu to the twentieth Base Skill, his disciple had called him over. He had been standing beside the two of them, watching all along.

Even with his breadth of experience, Su Tu's Bone Root talent had surprised him somewhat.

That was why he could not help speaking up and bringing out the Golden Body Skill. This Golden Body Skill differed from ordinary Base Skills in that it came with a divine ability of its own. Once cultivated to completion, one's body would be cloaked in golden light, impervious to blades and swords. Those who achieved mastery in the Golden Body Skill could roam above blazing suns with their flesh alone!

Zhou Wuliang placed a hand on Su Tu's body, and streams of warmth instantly surged into Su Tu's body.

He was in a good mood. Just moments ago, that person had given him a thorough scolding, but the moment he turned around, his student had proven so promising. If Su Tu could truly endure a Seventh Grade Base Skill, then in three months' time, perhaps a miracle really could happen!!

"Seven really is this old man's lucky number!" The more Zhou Wuliang looked at Su Tu, the more pleasing he found him.

"This old man will guide you personally. This Golden Body Skill is exceptionally tyrannical. If you cannot endure it, remember—" he began to warn him, afraid of damaging Su Tu's foundation.

But the next second—

Su Tu, who had been sitting with his eyes closed and his mind calm, opened his eyes. He turned to look at Zhou Wuliang with a faintly helpless expression.

"Hm? Why are you looking at this old man? Continue practicing the Base Skill and nurture your blood and Qi."

"Could it be that you can no longer endure it?"

There was a trace of disappointment in Zhou Wuliang's voice, but it made sense. A Seventh Grade Base Skill—across the entire Federation, there were no more than a hundred people capable of cultivating one. Every single one was a future standard-bearer, a founding ancestor!

For him to expect a boy who had never even touched martial arts to forge his foundation with a Seventh Grade Base Skill really was asking too much.

But Li Hu, who had long since come to understand Su Tu, looked at the expression that had already given him a little PTSD. His scalp went numb. He knew that look far too well.

That was not the look of someone unable to endure it at all. That look meant—

"Xiao Tu... you still... don't feel anything?" Even Li Hu himself did not realize whether his voice trembled from excitement or fear.