Technique Minor Mastery, The Gap Between Geniuses

You won a sparring match. Combat Proficiency +20, Body Strengthening Proficiency +10

Combat (Mid Grade): 290/1000

Body Strengthening (Mid Grade): 592/1000

Looking at the results screen before him, Su Tu pursed his lips slightly. Sure enough, compared to training alone, fighting each other yielded more Proficiency.

At this rate, it would not be long before both skills had a chance to advance to High Grade.

However, based on Su Tu's understanding of the system, Proficiency was rising quickly now because his Proficiency levels were low. The closer a skill came to advancing, the harder it would be to level up.

He was in no hurry. Though the scenery atop the mountain was beautiful, the fragrance along the way captivated him just as much.

Watching himself grow stronger step by step was intoxicating.

"You really are a monster."

"Only two days, and Prajna Seven Kills has already reached Minor Mastery?" Luo Fan flipped himself upright. Qi flowed around him, and rather than being discouraged by his defeat, he seemed to have cast off some invisible shackles.

Technique cultivation was divided into five realms: Beginner, Minor Mastery, Seeing the Subtle, Great Mastery, and Self Alone.

It was meticulous work. Cultivating techniques required the right mindset, movements, and talent. Sometimes, one also needed a sudden flash of insight to see through layers of concealment and grasp a technique's true essence.

For Prajna Seven Kills, one had to make the five viscera resonate as one, with body and mind trembling together, just to be considered a beginner.

These students could all be called geniuses, yet aside from Su Tu, none of them had even managed to enter the beginner stage.

That showed just how difficult technique cultivation was.

Yet just now, sparks of electricity had flickered around Su Tu. His five viscera and entire body had resonated without distinction, merging into a seamless whole. He had clearly reached Minor Mastery.

Even though everyone had become accustomed to being shocked by him, they could not help but marvel now.

"Eh, I somehow reached Minor Mastery." Su Tu stepped down from the ring, speaking casually.

He truly did not think much of it. It was only Minor Mastery. To advance his Eternal Life skill, he needed a technique to reach Great Mastery.

That was a realm one could attain only after thoroughly mastering a technique and using it freely at will. He was still far from that goal.

The others could not help rolling their eyes at his words.

Everyone knew that Su Tu's "somehow" meant something others could not achieve even if they risked their lives.

"Come on, Mr. Somehow, give us a chance to live. How am I supposed to practice martial arts with you around? If you push me too far, I'll have no choice but to go home and inherit my ten-billion fortune!"

Tang Yangwu teased.

"What can I do about it? How about we trade? Give me your ten-billion fortune. I wouldn't mind." Su Tu, the anti-humblebrag warrior, struck with a heavy punch.

Tang Yangwu laughed. "No way. You're the man who's going to conquer the stars and the seas!"

"They dock pay for overused memes!" Su Tu said as he walked over to Luo Fan.

The forthright Youth looked at Su Tu with a complicated expression.

"You really are impressive," Su Tu said seriously.

Luo Fan's combat skills had put him under considerable pressure, even more so than Ka Sha Shi.

If they truly squared off and fought to the death with everything they had, then with Luo Fan's cultivation of over ninety opened acupoints and his fighting skills, Su Tu did not think he would necessarily win.

"A loss is a loss. It doesn't matter." Yet Luo Fan sounded far more relaxed than before.

"Losing to a genius from my own school is better than getting humiliated by outsiders later. Honestly, I feel much more at ease now."

"Before, I was always wound tight, thinking I had to become this or that. But now..."

Luo Fan looked at Su Tu as though he were looking at a supreme being who would one day step beyond the stars.

"Now, my cultivation realm is still quite a bit higher than yours. I've opened ninety-nine acupoints. At least in that regard, I'm better than you. Kid, you still need to train!"

Luo Fan abruptly changed his tone and actually cracked a joke.

Once he saw the gap clearly, he shattered the unconscious arrogance he had once harbored. He was not discouraged; he simply stopped comparing himself to Su Tu in secret.

In his words, he was stubborn, not an idiot. Why insist on comparing himself to a monster like this and make himself miserable?

When the gap was large enough, jealousy would not take root.

"Opening acupoints is slow work. No matter how talented you are, you have to open them one by one. The three of us have all opened eighty or ninety acupoints. At least for now, if we're only talking cultivation, we're still stronger than you. You'll have to chase us for a while."

Tang Yangwu chimed in at just the right moment.

For these geniuses who had practiced martial arts since childhood, this was the only thing they could still show off in front of Su Tu. Oh, and money.

No matter how heaven-defying Su Tu's talent was, in the Peeking Branch Realm, he still had to continuously temper his body with his Base Skill, open acupoints, and forge his martial foundation. It was a long process.

Generally speaking.

"Actually, I might not need to chase for very long." Su Tu rubbed his chin and muttered.

Hearing that, Mo Ya smiled, about to say something.

But Tang Yangwu's expression suddenly changed. His bright eyes could clearly see that the qi around Su Tu was several times denser than it had been yesterday.

Then he could not help shouting, "Fuck!! You opened new acupoints??"

"You entered the realm yesterday, and opened new acupoints today??" Tang Yangwu stared at Su Tu in disbelief.

The other two were equally dumbfounded.

Entering a realm in one day was already outrageous enough, and now he was saying Su Tu might have opened new acupoints too?

Then what the hell had they been cultivating all these years?

"I got lucky and opened some new acupoints," Su Tu said modestly.

"How many?"

"Eleven. Somehow." Su Tu scratched his head, looking as if he did not understand what had happened himself.

The others exchanged looks, then looked at Su Tu's smug expression.

Fuck, this kid was black all the way through once you cut him open.

"Damn it!! Aaargh!! Now I'm jealous too!" Tang Yangwu snapped and charged at Su Tu.

Luo Fan squatted down and wrapped his arms around Su Tu's legs. "Damn, looks like we can only bully you while we still can. Later on, we might have to address you with honorifics just to speak to you!!"

Mo Ya joined in as well.

They messed around wildly by the ring, and the distance between them, once somewhat unfamiliar, steadily grew closer.

Perhaps that was how friendships were in one's school years. One round of horseplay, a few games, and the distance between people could become so very small.

Training ended early that day. Tang Yangwu and the others had invited everyone out for hotpot.

But Su Tu could not handle spicy food, so he did not go with them. He had originally planned to ask Li Hu about a few things, but Li Hu was not at the martial arts school. So Su Tu simply went home.

On the way, Su Tu saw many storefronts being renovated. Some signboards were covered with red cloth, and with his eyesight, he could easily make out the character for martial behind the fabric.

"Has North Sea gained a lot of martial arts schools lately?" Su Tu thought back. There had indeed been many more martial arts schools of all sizes across North Sea recently.

It gave Su Tu the feeling that a storm was coming.

He lowered his head and scrolled through short videos when one suddenly caught his eye.

A child had accidentally fallen from a window while playing. Amid the parents' desperate cries, a figure shot out through the air and caught the child in one motion.

The comments beneath the video had gone completely insane.

"Is this really not a movie!!!"

"Fuck, you guys are evolving without me!!"

"No, he's flying. He's actually flying!!"

And it was not the only one. Su Tu came across many such videos: a towering figure stopping two cargo trucks about to collide with his bare strength, a mysterious person rushing in and out of a fire seven times before extinguishing the blaze with one palm.

In short, such videos had suddenly swept across every major platform that day. Everyone was discussing them frantically. Some believed they were promotional clips for some massive new IP.

Others believed they were signs of a new era arriving.

Although the entire internet was in an uproar, the Federation authorities had released no information at all.

Were they laying the groundwork for the Martial Examination? Su Tu had a faint premonition.

The sun dipped slightly, and drifting clouds stretched like an ocean, dimming the entire sky.

Su Tu curled his hand into an O and looked through it toward the horizon, as though the whole world had fallen into his sight at that moment.

This June would probably be wonderful.