Second Realm of Jing Li

Before reaching the Third Realm of Jing Li, Smooth Strength, fists and kicks showed no mercy.

Therefore, the Martial Arts Bureau had clear regulations: before high school students reached Smooth Strength, school teachers were forbidden from teaching martial arts that were too fierce and aggressive, to prevent students from injuring one another during sparring because they could not rein in their strength.

Such incidents had occurred frequently in the past; some had even resulted in deaths from fights.

Thus, before students broke through to Smooth Strength, Martial Arts Teachers would only teach grappling and throwing martial arts with less ferocious offensive power, such as Eighteen Falls Upon Touching, Silken Entanglement Grappling Hand, and Eight Trigrams Continuous Palm.

These martial arts were not as lethal. So long as one did not deliberately intend to kill, techniques like Eighteen Falls Upon Touching and Silken Entanglement Grappling Hand found it difficult to kill someone, at most causing injuries.

But if it was deliberate, then a single punch aimed at vital spots such as the forehead or heart could kill someone even without using any martial arts. A Quasi-Martial Artist who had cultivated Flowing Strength possessed force like a millstone.

Premeditated murder and accidentally injuring or crippling someone during a sparring match because one could not hold back were entirely different matters.

Of course, while schools did not teach martial arts that were too fierce and aggressive, some wealthy people would still hire private instructors for their children or spend money to have them study at martial arts schools, allowing them to encounter domineering martial arts ahead of time.

At the starting line of life, children from wealthy families already held an advantage.

If ordinary people wanted to rise above the rest, they had to be more diligent and work harder than the children of wealthy families.

The ancestors and fathers of those prominent clans had not been wealthy from the beginning either. They had all come from ordinary backgrounds. Only through the efforts of generation after generation, each stronger than the last, had they attained their present circumstances.

No one was born a Martial Artist.

Though prominent clans appeared glamorous on the surface, if their descendants proved disappointing and lacked powerful martial strength to safeguard the family foundation, even the greatest fortune would quickly be squandered. Therefore, the children of prominent clans were not playboys. Their diligence in cultivation was no less than that of ordinary people, because they had grown accustomed to that lifestyle—to living in luxurious homes, riding in luxury cars whenever they went out, being surrounded by beautiful women, and receiving the adoration of all. No one wanted to return to a life of utter poverty.

Children from wealthy families would only work harder. They not only had to preserve everything they possessed, but also prevent others from surpassing them.

In short, Dragon Ascending Nation was currently in a state of vigorous progress. Whether ordinary people or the wealthy, everyone worked hard and struggled forward. Those who failed to advance would only be eliminated.

Qin Fen used Righteous Qi to raise Galloping Horse Strength to the Peak Realm, bringing his Jing Li to the Second Realm. It was as though he had cultivated it through solid, step-by-step training himself; he barely needed any time to adapt and could skillfully wield his enhanced strength.

So-called Flowing Strength meant linking the strength throughout the entire body into a single force, like a millstone.

Qin Fen's Galloping Horse Strength had just entered the Peak Realm. Given time to gather and channel his strength, he could link the force throughout his body and double the power of a punch, splitting steles and shattering rocks, capturing tigers and binding lions.

But in battle, an enemy would not give him enough time to circulate his strength. Thus, he could not link all the strength in his body at once and could only connect and consolidate over half of it.

Even so, that power was extraordinary, far stronger than that of a Quasi-Martial Artist in the First Realm of Jing Li.

"Whew, martial arts really do get harder the further you go. To cultivate Galloping Horse Strength to the pinnacle of the Peak Realm requires 500 Righteous Qi Value."

Qin Fen looked at the Galloping Horse Strength entry on the Panel and sighed.

With Righteous Qi Value, his cultivation speed was undoubtedly much faster than that of ordinary people.

Under normal circumstances, it took a Senior One student an entire semester of hard training to go from cultivating Jing Li to linking and consolidating the strength throughout their body. Reaching Flowing Strength within two or three months was already considered excellent talent.

If one only cultivated Jing Li after three or four strength transmissions, that indicated average talent and aptitude, requiring even more time. It might take a full year of arduous training to reach Flowing Strength.

Only a month had passed, yet Qin Fen had already broken through to Flowing Strength. In Thirteen Middle School's hundred-year history, there were very few whose cultivation speed could compare with his—fewer than could be counted on one hand.

Flowing Strength to Smooth Strength was a threshold. Even students with excellent talent needed more than a year to cross it.

At Yang City Thirteenth High School, students who reached Smooth Strength had basically already entered Senior Three. Yet judging from the data every year, not a single person admitted to Martial Arts University had cultivation below the Fourth Realm of Jing Li.

Therefore, one had to at least reach the Fourth Realm of Jing Li to have a chance of being admitted to Martial Arts University.

The Senior Three students had only just entered Smooth Strength. Without two or three years of bitter cultivation, it was simply impossible for them to reach the Fourth Realm. In other words, the chance of this year's Senior Three students from Thirteen Middle School getting into Martial Arts University was practically zero.

"There are still 95 points of Righteous Qi Value. I'll save them for now."

Qin Fen did not use his Righteous Qi Value to raise Galloping Horse Strength.

Galloping Horse Strength required 499 points of Righteous Qi Value to reach the pinnacle of the Peak Realm. Even if he added those 95 points, it would only make him more proficient in Flowing Strength; it would not allow him to advance to Smooth Strength.

To reach Smooth Strength, his proficiency had to reach at least 400 points.

Qin Fen also did not choose to spend Righteous Qi to improve Eighteen Falls Upon Touching. For him, Eighteen Falls Upon Touching at the Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber realm was sufficient. If necessary, he could improve it later.

Martial arts enhanced through Righteous Qi were just like those cultivated through arduous training, and did not even require an adaptation period.

Good steel had to be used on the blade's edge.

Jing Li cultivation was the foundation of one's strength; martial arts techniques for fighting enemies were merely supplementary.

If he entered the Third Realm of Jing Li, Smooth Strength, the combat power he could unleash would definitely surpass Eighteen Falls Upon Touching at the Comprehensive Mastery realm. It was only a grappling and throwing technique, with limited power.

After breaking through to Flowing Strength, Qin Fen's body required more energy in addition to his increased strength. He soon felt hungry. Looking at the time, he saw there was still an hour until dinner.

Qin Fen stopped training.

Before his breakthrough, the energy contained in a standard Nutritional Meal had been enough to support an entire afternoon of training.

But now that he had reached Flowing Strength and his cultivation had improved, his body's energy requirements had also increased. Standard Nutritional Meals could no longer satisfy him; each meal would have to be upgraded to a higher-tier Nutritional Meal.

Qin Fen rested for an hour, then headed to the cafeteria with Chen Bo after Chen Bo finished training.

"Qin Fen, you'll be fighting Shi Jian tomorrow. Are you confident you can beat him?" Chen Bo said. "Teacher Liu Sheng taught Shi Jian Silken Entanglement Grappling Hand. I heard he has already cultivated it to the Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber realm. More than twenty classmates who had cultivated Jing Li attacked together and were all knocked down by him. Teacher Liu Sheng even praised Shi Jian's excellent talent and aptitude, saying that it would take him at most one month to link and consolidate the strength throughout his body and break through to the Second Realm of Jing Li, Flowing Strength."

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