Golden Scales

The school's Martial Arts Arena covered roughly 1,500 square meters. It also served as the school gymnasium, with the space rearranged as needed.

Whenever the Middle School Martial Arts League was held, a fighting ring would be temporarily set up.

The Martial Arts Arena had a steel-framed tile roof, concrete walls, and a plastic floor.

The roof stood twelve meters high, with another row of windows installed beneath it. They ensured good lighting while letting the wind blow in from all sides.

With no heating, the temperature inside during winter was not much different from outdoors.

According to the principal, Martial Arts Team members needed to train in harsh conditions to temper powerful wills and strong bodies.

The one o'clock afternoon sun streamed through the skylights, illuminating the Martial Arts Arena and bringing a little warmth with it.

The Martial Arts Team attended regular academic classes in the mornings and began training at one-thirty in the afternoon. They rested on Saturdays and Sundays. Martial Artists were not machines; high-intensity training required the body to rest and recover.

At the moment, the Martial Arts Arena was empty. Gao Wu walked straight to the punching-force tester and slapped the red button to activate it.

Gao Wu adjusted his breathing, drove his feet into the ground, twisted his waist, and threw his punch. He mobilized the strength chain throughout his body, gathering all that force into his left fist before smashing a straight punch viciously into the target.

With a dull bang, red numbers flashed onto the tester's screen: 811.

Gao Wu's face lit up with excitement. His previous maximum punching force had been six hundred kilograms. This time, his punching force had risen by more than thirty percent.

The target mimicked the hardness of a human body. If he threw a full-force punch without wrapping his hands or wearing fingerless gloves, the skin on his knuckles would definitely split, and he might even bruise or fracture his finger bones.

Now, although his knuckles burned fiercely, not even a patch of skin had broken.

An eight-hundred-kilogram punch could genuinely kill a cow with one blow—it was no exaggeration. No matter where an ordinary person was hit, their bones would break and tendons snap.

It was mainly his powerful physique that made his strength chain transmit force more efficiently and let him exert himself more fully, producing such an impressive result.

The Alliance's assessment of Martial Artists was extremely simple and direct. A punching force of three hundred kilograms qualified one as a junior Martial Artist.

A punching force of five hundred kilograms made one an intermediate Martial Artist. One thousand kilograms qualified one as an Advanced Martial Artist.

This method appeared crude, but it was exceptionally reasonable.

To throw even several hundred kilograms of force required strict training to master complicated techniques for generating power.

The Alliance strongly supported martial arts practice and offered all kinds of reward policies.

There were no drug tests for Martial Artist assessments or competitions. This was precisely to encourage ordinary people to practice martial arts.

For ordinary people, the limit of martial arts training through exercise, enhancement injections, and similar methods was intermediate Martial Artist. Without martial arts talent, becoming an Advanced Martial Artist was basically impossible.

Gao Wu's family situation was complicated. He could not afford expensive enhancement drugs. Besides, most of those drugs came with severe side effects. They strengthened the body in the short term, but inflicted tremendous harm afterward.

At least eighty percent of youths were left riddled with hidden injuries during martial arts training.

He relied entirely on the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation to strengthen his body. Only then could he endure all kinds of extreme training while keeping himself healthy.

Without enhancement injections, the coach had no regard for him, and he could only be a substitute on the Martial Arts Team.

What the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation enhanced was physique, most directly reflected in resilience and endurance. Those advantages could not be displayed in a simple, brutal punching-force test.

Now that his punching force had increased by thirty percent, the most important thing was that his physique was powerful enough for him to dominate the Martial Arts Team!

One could tell from the name alone that Ninth Middle School was not a first-rate school in Dongjiang City. It could not even rank among the top ten. Dominating Ninth Middle School did not mean much.

To enter the top ten of Dongjiang Middle School's martial arts points rankings, one had to become an Advanced Martial Artist at minimum.

If he could open his Source Aperture and become a Warrior before the college entrance exams, he would be able to pick any university in Beizhou he wanted.

Unfortunately, he was still very far from becoming a Warrior.

While no one was around, Gao Wu tested the power of his sweeping kick as well. It was close to one thousand kilograms, also an increase of more than thirty percent.

His bench press, deadlift, and squat—the three major lifts—had all improved considerably as well.

There were cameras in the Martial Arts Arena. They could not see the punching-force test results, but weightlifting was visible as clear as day. Gao Wu did not want to put on too outrageous a display.

After making the rounds of tests, Gao Wu found an open space and began practicing the Nine Dragon Forms.

Tutorials for this basic introductory martial art could be found online. But to practice it correctly, one still needed guidance from someone knowledgeable.

Gao Wu had studied under Shang Hongyi, and his Nine Dragon Forms contained no mistakes or omissions. It was only that his martial arts talent had been mediocre, so after several years, he had merely reached the proficient level.

But practicing the Nine Dragon Forms after entering the mastery realm was entirely different...

When Coach Huang Hai entered, he saw Gao Wu practicing the Nine Dragon Forms. As a Warrior who had opened his Source Aperture, Huang Hai could tell at a glance that Gao Wu's martial arts had improved greatly. Each move now carried a few traces of the transformations and charm of a dragon's form.

Huang Hai frowned slightly. Earlier, he had noticed through the surveillance footage that Gao Wu's numbers in the three major lifts had improved, which made him curious. Did this kid have money for enhancement injections now?

The problem was that Gao Wu's Nine Dragon Forms had improved enormously as well.

The Nine Dragon Forms were not a fighting technique. Through movements, breathing, and visualization, they adjusted body and mind, sensed source power, and then condensed it.

This cultivation method was easy to begin, but the deeper one practiced, the more intricate and profound it became. The level Gao Wu displayed now was already considered outstanding among Dongjiang City middle school students.

Enhancement drugs could only stimulate the body, improving strength and reactions. They could not improve one's martial arts attainments. How had Gao Wu suddenly become so formidable?

"Could this kid have finally caught on?"

Huang Hai's expression was a little complicated. If this kid rose up, Huang Long would have no place at all.

Ninth Middle School could generally secure one guaranteed admission slot for a martial arts student, and by convention, it went to the person with the highest martial arts points.

Gao Wu was relatively balanced in every aspect, except that his strength and speed were somewhat lacking. He looked thoroughly mediocre.

In truth, his endurance was extraordinary, and his ability to withstand blows was extraordinary. If he truly stepped into the ring, he would definitely perform well.

Before, Huang Hai could still use various excuses to suppress Gao Wu and prevent him from competing. The main reason was that Gao Wu refused to be manipulated. On the surface, the kid was a nice guy, but underneath, he was proud and unruly, difficult to control.

Now that Gao Wu's martial arts level had improved so much, suppressing him would be difficult.

Even more troublesome was that Principal Han had suddenly called him and stated outright that he should give Gao Wu more opportunities to compete recently. After all, this was a precious opportunity for the school to make a name for itself!

After practicing the Nine Dragon Forms twice, Gao Wu slowly drew to a close. He warmly greeted Huang Hai, who stood nearby. "Coach, I didn't notice you coming in while I was practicing."

"You've improved. Not bad."

Huang Hai did not stint on praise. Then he added, "Your weaknesses are insufficient strength, slow speed, and poor close-combat skills. If you strengthen those areas, you'll have opportunities to compete in the league later."

"Thank you for the guidance, Coach. I'll work hard." Gao Wu was very polite. Although Huang Hai had deliberately suppressed him, he had never specifically subjected him to physical punishment or verbally abused him. There was no need for Gao Wu to tear his face off with the man.

Under another man's eaves, if you lacked the ability, you had to keep your head down. Huang Hai was a junior Warrior. Whatever his character, his strength surpassed Gao Wu's by an unknown number of times.

If they truly fought, Huang Hai could easily crush him to death with one hand.

"Principal Han will be coming by later to commend and praise you. Get yourself ready. Don't disgrace the Martial Arts Team." Huang Hai had no interest in saying more. After giving the instruction, he turned and left.

Gao Wu could not help feeling expectant. Even the principal was coming—this time, he had to receive some kind of cash reward, right?!

(Today is double monthly votes, right? If you have votes, please cast more~ bows)