The difference between realms was a difference between heaven and earth.
As Zhang Wan was feeling somewhat sentimental, a familiar voice came from nearby.
"Big Brother, Big Brother..."
Zhang Wan looked over and saw his second sister, Zhang Lingshu, running toward him happily.
The little girl was just over seven years old, chubby and incredibly adorable.
Zhang Wan walked over with a smile and chatted with his second sister, asking how she had been these past two days.
The two siblings chatted and laughed. Though he possessed memories from his previous life and great wisdom from birth, Zhang Wan still valued his family in this life.
After chatting for a while, Zhang Lingshu grew puzzled. It was almost lunchtime, the time when each class collected its food and ate in the classroom.
Why had her elder brother come over to her side?
"I came to take you to the private dining hall and let you have a taste of spiritual cuisine." Zhang Wan smiled.
Zhang Lingshu froze, then rejoiced. "Big Brother, you broke through to Postnatal?"
Both siblings attended the academy, and Zhang Wan had deliberately cultivated his younger sister, so he often explained various matters to her. He had not concealed his cultivation progress from her. Thus, the moment he mentioned the private dining hall, Zhang Lingshu understood.
"That's right. Come on, I'll tell you about it on the way." Zhang Wan took Zhang Lingshu by the hand and headed toward the private dining hall.
Along the way, Zhang Lingshu was extremely happy and excited, feeling proud of her elder brother for breaking through to Postnatal.
When she heard that Zhang Wan wanted her to move into an independent courtyard, she became even happier.
Zhang Wan planned to move Zhang Lingshu's belongings to the independent courtyard together after the afternoon martial arts class.
In fact, they could have asked the academy's servants' office to handle these things.
However, they had always been living in a shared dormitory and did not have many belongings. They could easily carry everything over themselves, so there was no need to trouble the servants' office.
Inside the private dining hall.
Zhang Wan divided roughly one-twentieth of his portion of spiritual cuisine made from pseudo-spiritual materials for Zhang Lingshu, then ordered some ordinary rice and meat dishes.
He then began to enjoy his meal.
It was not that he could not give her more. It was that Zhang Lingshu could not withstand it.
The medicinal soup prepared by the academy only had one or two pseudo-spiritual materials added to a huge vat, yet that was enough to satisfy the cultivation needs of over a hundred students in a class.
As for Zhang Wan's portion, it was made entirely from pseudo-spiritual materials.
It was even more nourishing than the medicinal soup.
One-twentieth was already about Zhang Lingshu's limit. Moreover, she could only eat this meal once a day. Any more, and she would start feeling unwell.
Zhang Wan planned to bring Zhang Lingshu here for a meal every day at noon from then on.
With this meal and his guidance, Zhang Wan believed that his second sister should also be able to temper her qi and blood to the limit by the time she became a Sixth-Level student.
He had observed and deduced earlier that his second sister's martial arts aptitude should be about the same as his own, belonging to the average tier.
Relying on having perfected the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist with experience points from an early age and having trained diligently for five years, he had still needed to invest a point of experience after advancing to Level Six to raise his qi and blood to the limit.
If it were his own sister, without his advantages, taking two or three times as long would be perfectly normal.
Without giving his second sister a little cheat, she might spend her entire life stuck at the Mortal Limit, just like the other servant disciples of the Jade Bone Sect, living out her days in frustration.
This pseudo-spiritual-material cuisine was the cheat he had given his sister.
At the same time, once his second sister moved into the small courtyard, relying on the spiritual energy there and his guidance, she should be able to perfect her qi and blood upon advancing to Level Six.
As for breaking through to Postnatal afterward, he would need to think of another solution.
Zhang Wan thought of the situation he had faced when reaching the Houtian bottleneck. His second sister would only find it harder to break through.
He had no intention of letting his sister remain stuck before that barrier for so long.
He needed to think of other ways to help her break through.
Zhang Wan was not in a hurry. Three years was enough time for him to obtain something capable of helping someone at the Mortal Limit break through.
For example, once the sect-issued cultivation resources arrived, he could save up a little and buy several mild pills that assisted with breakthroughs. That would solve the problem.
"Tsk, tsk. With someone ahead of you pulling you along, the road really is much easier."
I can forget about it myself, but I can pull my sister and Third Brother along.
That evening, Zhang Lingshu happily followed Zhang Wan as he moved her into the independent courtyard.
During the afternoon, everyone in Third-Level Class C learned that Zhang Lingshu's elder brother had broken through to Postnatal. A crowd of little radishes surrounded Zhang Lingshu, asking her this and that and chattering in their childish voices about how amazing her brother was, making Zhang Lingshu feel especially proud.
At that moment, however, Zhang Wan noticed that Zhang Lingshu was still full of energy.
Ordinarily, after an entire afternoon of martial arts lessons, a person would already be exhausted and listless.
Since she was still so lively, it seemed that the meal at noon had been too nourishing.
In that case, I can have my second sister train a little longer later.
Zhang Wan calculated how to continue having Zhang Lingshu train.
Her aptitude was already set. If she wanted to seize that sliver of opportunity in martial arts, how could she have any chance without working hard and training diligently?
Earlier, Zhang Wan had felt that the afternoon martial arts class was already exhausting enough. He needed to balance work and rest and could not wear down her body, so he had not considered giving his second sister extra lessons at night.
But now that he saw she still had so much energy, naturally, he had to arrange it!
Poor Zhang Lingshu was currently rushing around excitedly, carrying her belongings in and out as she arranged her room. She had no idea that her beloved elder brother had already scheduled several pages of training for her.
Only after Zhang Lingshu had been exhausted from her packed training and returned to her room to sleep did Zhang Wan smile and take out the cultivation art he had kept against his chest.
That afternoon, he had not attended the martial arts class for Sixth-Level Class E. Instead, he had stayed in the courtyard to comprehend the Bronze Iron Art.
This cultivation art was indeed profound.
Even though he had studied at the Beginner Martial Arts Academy for six years and learned a great deal of martial arts knowledge, he still found it obscure and difficult to comprehend.
"No wonder that even if we students break through to Postnatal ahead of time, the Jade Bone Sect still makes us stay at the academy for ten full years."
"After breaking through to Postnatal, we don't have to attend martial arts class. It is no longer of much use to Postnatal martial artists, but we still have to attend academic lessons."
"If we don't learn all that martial arts knowledge, it will be difficult to understand these cultivation arts when we look through them in the future."
In the morning, he had not gone to class because he had needed to register his identity and collect the cultivation art. Tomorrow, however, he could no longer be absent.
"However, not having finished learning that foundational martial arts knowledge doesn't mean I have no way to comprehend this cultivation art."
Zhang Wan opened the system interface.
Host: Zhang Wan (ten years old) Realm: Postnatal Level One (0/120) Realm Bottleneck: None Cultivation Arts and Martial Techniques: Mortal Martial Art—Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist (7/7), Bronze Iron Art—Postnatal Level Six cultivation art (0/114) Available Experience Points: 8146
Looking at the system, Zhang Wan hid the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist. After breaking through to Postnatal, this Mortal Martial Art was no longer important and did not need to remain on the panel.
As for comprehending the Postnatal Level Six Bronze Iron Art, it required a total of 114 experience points. This was even less than the experience required for an entire minor realm, which surprised Zhang Wan somewhat.
But when he considered that these 114 experience points would merely let him comprehend the contents of the cultivation art and would not increase his cultivation, he felt that requiring only this much experience was perfectly reasonable.
He did not immediately invest his experience points.
Zhang Wan first tapped the Bronze Iron Art on the panel.
Sure enough, the Postnatal Level Six Bronze Iron Art unfolded, listing six columns that corresponded exactly to the cultivation methods for each level of the Bronze Iron Art.
The experience cost marked behind the Postnatal Level One Bronze Iron Art was only fourteen points.
"Twice that of the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist?" Zhang Wan muttered.
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