The morning sun had yet to rise.
The students of the Beginner Martial Arts Academy under the Jade Bone Sect had already woken up.
After washing up, they left the communal beds one after another and headed for the training grounds.
Zhang Wan was one of them.
Though he was only nine years old, he moved with remarkable speed, his body nimble and robust.
But Zhang Wan was not the only one like that. At a glance, the children around his age all had physiques that were far from weak.
Some children even stood head and shoulders above the rest. They were not only two or three heads taller than the children around them, but extremely burly as well.
Amid this group of children, Zhang Wan was not conspicuous. He was merely an ordinary member of the crowd.
Soon, Zhang Wan arrived at the fifth training ground, which was used by the fifth-level students. He took his place in Class Wu and, under the guidance of the martial instructor, began practicing the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist.
The Beginner Martial Arts Academy had ten levels of students. New students started at the first level and advanced one level each year. After ten years, whether they had broken through to the Houtian Realm or not, they had to leave the academy.
Students who became Houtian martial artists could officially join the Jade Bone Sect and become outer sect disciples.
Those who remained, if they had performed well at the academy, could become servant disciples of the Jade Bone Sect, handling all kinds of chores for the sect while staying there to continue their cultivation.
Those who were even less capable could only return to the mortal world and struggle amid the mortal dust.
Each level of students was further divided into the ten classes of Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui. When there were too many students, classes such as Zi, Chou, Yin, and Mao would sometimes be added as well.
Zhang Wan was a student of Class Wu in the fifth level, and he had already studied at the Beginner Martial Arts Academy for nearly five years.
Over those five years, Zhang Wan had learned quite a bit of basic martial knowledge at the academy, but the only martial art he had learned was the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist.
This fist technique was a form of mortal martial arts. It had little offensive or defensive power, but it was the foundational martial art for mortals setting foot on the martial path!
If one failed to cross that threshold and enter the Houtian Realm, one could only struggle in the mortal world. This single martial art was naturally insufficient, and one would need to learn offensive mortal martial arts as well to protect oneself.
But during their time at the academy, the students did not need to divide their attention by studying other martial arts.
Compared with those mortal martial arts focused on killing, achieving the Houtian Realm was far more important.
Moreover, if one practiced the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist well and built a solid foundation, then even if one failed to become a Houtian martial artist, learning other mortal martial arts would be effortless.
Under the leadership of their instructor, Instructor Liu, the students of Class Wu in the fifth level practiced the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist three times. Their blood surged, and sweat covered every face.
Zhang Wan and several students around him stopped to recover their strength.
But one person was still practicing the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist.
That person was Xu Hui, the most talented student in Class Wu of the fifth level.
Although he was also only nine years old, Xu Hui had already thoroughly comprehended the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist. The blood in his body was also dense to the extreme, reaching the Mortal Limit.
Instructor Liu had once said that Xu Hui would break through the bottleneck and advance from an ordinary mortal to the Houtian Realm within a year.
There were several other students like Xu Hui among the fifth-level students, but even counting them all, they could be counted on two hands. Every one of them was a prominent figure among the fifth-level students, provoking the envy of the crowd.
They even had some renown throughout the Beginner Martial Arts Academy.
After all, not many people could temper their blood to the Mortal Limit before advancing to the ninth or tenth level. Even in the future, people like that could be considered figures of standing within the Jade Bone Sect's outer sect.
They naturally attracted attention.
Xu Hui acted as though no one else existed, immersed in the Ox Demon Great Strength Fist as he tried to grasp that sliver of opportunity and break through his bottleneck.
The other students occasionally glanced at Xu Hui with envy in their eyes. Zhang Wan alone felt no such emotion, but he concealed it well, appearing no different from the other students.
"Fully comprehending the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist and tempering his blood to the extreme—he really is formidable." Zhang Wan praised him inwardly.
Although he was only nine years old, he possessed memories from a previous life and remembered everything from it. He was a person with the wisdom of a former life.
Thus, after entering the Beginner Martial Arts Academy at a little over four years old and witnessing the many abilities of martial artists, Zhang Wan had realized that this was a road reaching the heavens. For five years, he had not slacked off for even a moment.
He had worked far harder than the other still-naive students.
Even so, he still lagged far behind Xu Hui, which made him feel the difference between their martial talents all the more keenly.
However, he was behind Xu Hui alone.
On the surface, Zhang Wan's progress ranked somewhere in the top dozen in Class Wu of the fifth level, and around one hundredth among all the fifth-level students.
But in truth, Zhang Wan's progress lagged only behind Xu Hui and a few other little prodigies who had touched the Mortal Limit.
By nature, Zhang Wan was cautious. Moreover, because of his former-life wisdom, he was somewhat different from the other children. He did not want to attract too much attention from the instructors, so he deliberately concealed his progress somewhat. That was why he ranked only around one hundredth among all the fifth-level students.
It was a position that drew no attention while making his achievements seem unsurprising.
"My aptitude among all the fifth-level students can only be considered average, but combined with diligence, surpassing these still-naive students won't be difficult."
"It's just that compared with those few whose aptitude far exceeds mine, catching up will still be difficult."
"And aptitude is especially important in the early stages of the martial path."
"Even though I'm ahead of most people now, limited by my aptitude, I may very well become stuck before the Houtian threshold and fail to break through." Zhang Wan knew this all too well.
A bottleneck could not be broken through with diligence alone.
One either needed sufficient aptitude or the aid of heavenly treasures.
Zhang Wan fell far short in the former, while the latter was difficult to obtain. Relying on his own strength, he had only a thread of hope of breaking through to the Houtian Realm.
It was not much, but Zhang Wan was not discouraged.
A single chance to reach the heavens was enough for Zhang Wan to pursue it without rest. Besides, he was not entirely without aid.
As someone with the wisdom of a former life and memories from his past existence, he had his own golden finger as well.
A simple and straightforward Experience Point System.
The system had bound itself to Zhang Wan from the moment he was born.
Every day, Zhang Wan could randomly obtain one to three experience points.
After more than nine years, Zhang Wan had already obtained 7,891 experience points. To date, he had used only five of them.
That left him with 7,886 points.
These experience points were the source of Zhang Wan's confidence!
After morning practice ended, Zhang Wan and several classmates went to the cafeteria to collect Class Wu's breakfast for the day, while the other students headed to class.
The Beginner Martial Arts Academy had more than ten thousand students across its ten levels, so they did not gather in one place to eat.
For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, people were generally sent to collect the food from the cafeteria, which was then enjoyed in the classrooms, training grounds, or other locations.
The instructors did not eat together with the students either. They had a separate cafeteria reserved for them.
At the same time, a small number of students could also enter the instructors' exclusive cafeteria.
All these students had backers behind them, with martial artists among their ancestors at home.
The resources they enjoyed were far greater than those available to ordinary students.
And because the martial artists in their families strictly restrained and instructed them, their blood-tempering progress was not poor either.
The most formidable among them were like Xu Hui, having tempered their blood to the extreme and achieved the Mortal Limit.
Those who were slightly weaker still ranked among the top four hundred students of their respective levels.
Only the few who were both useless and spoiled rotten ranked at the very bottom.
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