Time Flies

September 11th, Friday.

Besides cultivating himself, Qin Fen also gave guidance to Shen Qiu and Li Heng.

It was worth mentioning that his best friend Chen Bo, after working hard these past few days, had also developed Jing Li. When the academic and martial arts classes were divided, he would be able to enter Martial Arts Class A.

To celebrate, the two of them extravagantly ordered a hundred-yuan Nutritional Meal each on the fourth floor of the cafeteria.

Naturally, Chen Bo treated him to this meal.

September 12th, Saturday.

Though it was a rest day, Qin Fen still came to school to train.

The training rooms in the school's Martial Arts Hall had all kinds of training equipment, freely available to students who had developed Jing Li. Moreover, the fourth floor of the school cafeteria was open even on rest days.

However, Nutritional Meals had to be reserved three hours in advance.

September 13th, Sunday.

Cultivation continued as usual, with no major changes.

The only difference was that Aliens were appearing more and more frequently. Another incident of an Alien harming people had occurred in Jinan District.

Fortunately, they were all merely low-level Aliens, appearing only around midnight. As long as people did not wander around outside at that hour, there was basically no danger to their lives, so no panic had arisen.

Ordinary people armed with firearms could also kill low-level Aliens.

The Guard Bureau could handle these low-level Aliens without troubling the Martial Artists of the Martial Arts Bureau.

September 14th, Monday.

The third transmission of Jing Li took place today, and eight more students had developed Jing Li at once.

Three of them were students from Qin Fen's class.

This was good news for Qin Fen.

Shen Qiu and Li Heng had already begun to master the essence of Eighteen Falls Upon Touching and no longer needed his guidance.

Now that there were eight more classmates, he was guaranteed an income of 8 Righteous Qi Value every day.

Although it would only last for a few days, it was still not bad.

September 15th, Tuesday.

Qin Fen's Eighteen Falls Upon Touching had reached the realm of Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber.

He had not neglected his cultivation of Galloping Horse Strength these past days either.

By tempering his forearms, waist, abdomen, and thighs with Jing Li, muscles had become visible in those areas, especially prominently. They were not the bulky muscles of bodybuilders, but sleek, flowing lines brimming with power.

Whenever Qin Fen circulated his Jing Li, those muscles would bulge high, hard as stone.

Even when a wooden stick struck them hard enough to break, he did not feel the slightest pain.

Qin Fen tested his strength and found that it had reached 1,500 jin.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was October 3rd.

October 3rd was a Saturday. The training room was still filled with figures cultivating diligently and sweating profusely.

Compared with the wealthy children of prominent families, ordinary people like them, born into average households with average talent and average resources, had only one weapon: sweat. They could only work hard, work harder, work harder still; train bitterly, train more bitterly, train bitterly still.

Even with the Panel, Qin Fen had merely offset a portion of the cultivation resources enjoyed by the children of prominent families.

Some wealthy children hired private tutors in middle school and began basic training. Some had already developed Jing Li before entering high school. Those with outstanding talent and aptitude had even reached the Second Realm of Jing Li, or perhaps the Third Realm of Jing Li.

Compared to them, common-born students like Qin Fen were already behind at the starting line, and their cultivation resources were nowhere near comparable. If they did not cultivate diligently, they would never catch up to those wealthy children. Moreover, not every rich child from a prominent family could necessarily get into a Martial Arts University.

Dragon Ascending Nation had twenty-three provinces, with only one Martial Arts University in each province. There were also six special-class cities, each with a Martial Arts University.

That made a total of twenty-nine Martial Arts Universities.

Each Martial Arts University admitted no more than one thousand students. The highest-ranked ones admitted only five or six hundred students a year. They had always recruited only elites, preferring to take fewer students rather than compromise on quality just to fill numbers. Better to leave vacancies than accept inferior candidates.

One had to know that more than ten million students took the College Entrance Examination nationwide every year.

Out of more than ten million students, fewer than thirty thousand could enter a Martial Arts University.

Therefore, the competition in the College Entrance Examination was extremely fierce every year.

After completing the day's training, Qin Fen looked at the Panel.

Qin Fen: Quasi-Martial Artist

Martial Arts: Galloping Horse Strength/Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber (80/100), Eighteen Falls Upon Touching/Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber (35/100)

Righteous Qi Value: 116

Galloping Horse Strength's proficiency had reached 80. It was already close to the peak of Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber.

"Use 21 Righteous Qi Value to improve Galloping Horse Strength."

Qin Fen willed it.

His Righteous Qi Value decreased by 21 points and was added to Galloping Horse Strength.

The Panel flickered, and the Galloping Horse Strength entry became blurred.

A few breaths later, it became clear again.

Qin Fen: Quasi-Martial Artist

Martial Arts: Galloping Horse Strength/Peak Realm (1/500), Eighteen Falls Upon Touching/Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber (35/100)

Righteous Qi Value: 95

The instant Galloping Horse Strength completed its advancement, a vast current of heat surged through Qin Fen's body, accelerating the circulation of his qi and blood and continuously transforming his body. His muscles became fuller and stronger, while his tendons and bones became tougher.

Countless insights regarding Galloping Horse Strength flooded into his mind.

"Now that Galloping Horse Strength has reached the Peak Realm, my strength has increased by at least four or five hundred jin."

Qin Fen clenched his fist, feeling the power transmitted through his muscles and bones, and could not help becoming slightly intoxicated by the sensation.

His strength had now surpassed 2,000 jin. Moreover, with Galloping Horse Strength reaching the Peak Realm, his mastery over Jing Li had also entered the Second Realm, Flowing Strength.

Jing Li could flow through his entire body. When he threw a punch, the force began at his feet, traveled through his legs, waist, back, arms, and finally his hands. The force unleashed was like a millstone, full of power, far more formidable than the Internal Strength Realm.

Qin Fen clenched his five fingers into a fist and suddenly punched through the air, producing a sharp howl as it tore through the atmosphere.

Having reached the Second Realm of Jing Li, even an ordinary punch from him now exceeded 2,000 jin in force. Once he circulated Jing Li through his entire body, making his force like a millstone, he could shatter three-centimeter-thick hard granite with a single palm strike.

After cultivating Flowing Strength, his force was far stronger than that of a Quasi-Martial Artist who had only just developed Jing Li. At this realm, he had not yet reached the point of controlling his force freely, so he could not casually throw punches in a fight. Once he punched, if the other side could not withstand it, they would be seriously injured.

If he struck certain vital areas, he might even kill someone with a single punch.

Therefore, Quasi-Martial Artists who had cultivated Flowing Strength generally found that fists and feet had no eyes. Sparring could easily injure or kill someone. It was not that they intended to do so, but that their Jing Li could be unleashed but not withdrawn.

Only by advancing further, reaching the Third Realm of Jing Li, Smooth Strength, could one unleash force smoothly and both release and retract it, as naturally as moving one's own limbs. Then, one could stop at the right point when sparring and display the bearing of a true expert.

Fists and feet had no eyes; if sparring meant death or injury, one could not be considered an expert.

Only when one's force arose with one's will, able to be released and withdrawn freely, stopping at the right point, did one possess the bearing of a true expert.

Thanks to reader Bingxin Yijiao for the 500-coin donation.