For the next while, Jiang Ye returned to his routine of going between home and school.
Only his class had changed, from Class Nine to Class One of the Key Class.
At night, he entered the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder.
He underwent the painful trial of the Second Layer.
Of course, Jiang Ye hadn't awakened some strange attribute.
He did it only to increase his tolerance for pain.
Besides,
he could also let himself go in the First Layer's illusion.
After each trial in the Second Layer, Jiang Ye returned to the First Layer to soothe himself.
Through repeatedly "breaking down only to rise again," not only had his Martial Will grown stronger, he had also begun to develop an increasing immunity to pain.
And so, day after day,
time flew by, and January came to a close.
At home,
Jiang Ye sat cross-legged on the floor and slowly opened his eyes.
Lines of text appeared before him.
[Technique]
Star Martial Cultivation Method: Mastery
Eight Divisions Thunder Sound Fist: Minor Accomplishment (5%)
Star Martial Advancement Method: Beginner (1%)
"Finally."
"I managed to break through to Beginner in the Advancement Method the day before Starry Sky Refinement."
Jiang Ye let out a deep breath.
Truth be told, he'd felt a little apprehensive before.
Relying on his Grade A+ Physique, he'd gritted his teeth and chosen this Yellow Tier High-Grade Cultivation Method.
If he hadn't reached Beginner before the end of the month,
he would have wasted one of his chances at Starry Sky Refinement, just as Cao Feng had said.
Fortunately, all those worries had been needless.
"Grade A+ Physique, you really didn't let me down." Jiang Ye smiled.
Less than half a year remained until the college entrance exam.
Jiang Ye knew it would be difficult for him to get into one of the Top Ten Elite Schools.
But among the Twenty-Five School Alliance, he was determined to choose the best.
In Martial Arts, you had to fight for it.
Children from poor families had to fight even harder!
By now, he knew the Twenty-Five School Alliance didn't require reaching First Break.
But there were still differences between the schools in the alliance.
Only by reaching First Break could he choose the very best one.
"900 points. I'm still three hundred points short of my goal." Jiang Ye did the math. Although he hadn't taken any exams recently, his current strength was already far greater than before.
But the 900-point threshold was frighteningly high.
The standards for the Martial Arts Four Trials:
600 points required Mastery in the Star Martial Cultivation Method.
850 points required breaking through to First Break.
900 points? You had to make progress beyond First Break. That was also the minimum threshold for the Ten Great Famous Schools.
As for a perfect score of 1200, only those who had reached Second Break could achieve it.
Jiang Ye knew
reaching 900 points would be hard. He'd deliberately set his goal far off, to motivate himself.
"If I'd chosen Body Tempering or Foundation Establishment before, there'd be no way I could reach First Break before the college entrance exam." Jiang Ye shook his head to himself.
Both of those refinement methods required more than ten Starry Sky Refinements to reach First Break.
It wasn't just that Jiang Ye couldn't afford that many. The school couldn't possibly arrange so many sessions within half a year, either.
Only the Star Martial Advancement Method required fewer Starry Sky Refinements.
But its difficulty made most people shy away.
"Beginner is only the start." Jiang Ye knew it well. "I'll need at least Minor Accomplishment to break the Life Shackle. That'll be difficult!"
Even Minor Accomplishment in the Advancement Method didn't guarantee reaching First Break.
It depended on whether his life force had reached that threshold. That, in turn, depended entirely on Starry Sky Refinement.
"Starry Sky Refinement uses Starry Sky Energy to wash and temper the body."
Jiang Ye thought, "It's a process of life's transformation."
That kind of transformation couldn't be achieved just by practicing refinement methods.
Refinement methods were only guides.
To put it plainly, they were used to reshape the body and strengthen its foundation, allowing it to contain Starry Sky Energy.
Advanced refinement methods allowed the body to contain more Starry Sky Energy, and vice versa.
"How much can life transform? That depends on the talent's ability to absorb."
Absorption had two meanings.
The first was absorbing Starry Sky Energy from the outside world into the body.
The second was refining the Starry Sky Energy within the body and making it one's own.
The stronger one's Martial Arts talent, the more Star Energy one could absorb.
Without absorbing Star Energy, no matter how well one practiced a Cultivation Method, one would still be a carbon-based life form, incapable of standing against modern weapons.
But with Star Energy, things were different.
A Starry Sky Martial Artist didn't fear guns or cannons!
That was why this world valued talent so highly.
Martial Arts talent was the root of the path to Starry Sky Martial Arts. Without it, even practicing a Cultivation Method couldn't help you absorb Star Energy.
"I've heard that Primitive Talent has a very low efficiency for absorbing Star Energy."
Just how low was it? Jiang Ye didn't know.
But he wasn't worried.
So what if the efficiency was low? There was no time limit on Starry Sky Refinement. As long as he held on long enough, he could keep going.
If his efficiency was low, he'd make up for it with time.
Besides,
Jiang Ye took out an exquisite metal bottle.
Chen Zilu had given it to him before they parted. It helped with absorbing Star Energy.
Not only that, the system had increased its value by 200%.
"Pop!"
Jiang Ye opened the bottle.
A fragrant scent wafted out at once.
In the sunlight, pale-purple liquid flowed inside the bottle, as translucent as liquid amber, with faint points of starlight shimmering within.
"Star Sea Nectar." Jiang Ye already knew its name.
As far as he knew, it was exceedingly rare throughout Xishan Province.
After all, Xishan Province was merely a backward region among the Western Ten Provinces.
The Blue Star Federation's territory was now divided into the Eastern Ten Provinces, Southern Ten Provinces, Northern Ten Provinces, and Western Ten Provinces.
The Eastern Ten Provinces and Southern Ten Provinces were the most prosperous.
This Star Sea Nectar could only be found in the distant, prosperous Eastern Ten Provinces.
And its price was almost unimaginable.
A little bottle like this might cost over a million.
"A million." Jiang Ye recalled a smiling, lovely face.
It was easy to accept such kindness. Repaying it wouldn't be nearly so easy.
With Chen Zilu's background, this sum might not have meant much to her.
But to Jiang Ye, a helping hand like this was precious.
Speaking of Chen Zilu, Jiang Ye remembered how he'd gone to Cao Feng for advice a few days ago, only for Cao Feng to tell him to ask questions in Martial Arts Class because he had things to do after class.
Jiang Ye couldn't help understanding how his former classmates in Class Nine must have felt.
The way Chen Zilu treated him was truly rare.
His face did make it easy for him to win the favor of girls, and given how hard he worked at cultivation, it wasn't surprising that a teacher favored him.
But even so, it wasn't enough to explain Chen Zilu's behavior. There had to be another reason.
"Why is she so good to me?" Jiang Ye pondered it for a while, then let the matter go.
After all, that was in the past.
If they had the chance to meet again one day, perhaps he could find out why.
But right now, the most important thing to Jiang Ye was tomorrow's Starry Sky Refinement.
"Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder." Jiang Ye closed his eyes.
He entered the Second Layer and continued the painful trial.
It was his final preparation for the next day's Starry Sky Refinement.
The next day.
The skies over Ancheng were clear for thousands of miles.
It was Sunday, yet Ancheng Third Middle School's senior year campus was packed.
Senior year students didn't get days off.
Every day was a fresh push toward the college entrance exam.
As soon as Jiang Ye arrived at school, he headed straight for his class.
When he reached the senior year Class One classroom, Cao Feng was already waiting at the front.
"Get ready. We're going to gather by the school gate shortly," Cao Feng said.
"Yes."
Everyone in the classroom began getting ready.
Soon, Jiang Ye filed out with the others.
The entire Class One had turned out. Every student was taking part in this Starry Sky Refinement.
That was the strength of the Key Class.
In contrast, not a single student from any of the more than ten senior year Ordinary Classes was taking part.
"The gap between ordinary students and the Key Class really is huge." Jiang Ye sighed inwardly.
The requirement for participating in Starry Sky Refinement was reaching Mastery in the Star Martial Cultivation Method.
Everyone in the Key Class had met the requirement, but among the Ordinary Classes, no one had—not even him.
That was the difference in talent.
Even money couldn't necessarily make up for it.
A short while later,
Jiang Ye boarded the school bus with everyone from Class One and headed to the Starry Sky Refinement site.
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