Zhang Qianru immediately lost interest. If she was working that hard and still getting bad grades, didn't that just mean she was stupid?
Lu Shuyuan, however, asked in confusion, "Your brother's so good at martial arts. Why does he study so hard, too?"
"My brother's good at martial arts?" Chen Xingyue's eyes widened, her face full of disbelief.
"Didn't you notice? There's a natural rhythm to the way he walks. He's a lot like our Martial Arts Teacher."
"How could that be possible!" Before Chen Xingyue could react, Zhang Qianru had already blurted out what she was thinking.
Their class's Martial Arts Teacher was a true martial artist. Though sorcery had left him with an incurable hidden injury while exploring another world, forcing him to stay at the school as an ordinary Martial Arts Teacher, his strength was still beyond anything a Martial Apprentice could match.
For the first time, Chen Xingyue took a good, serious look at Chen Shouyi, who was waiting in line ahead of her.
He stood with his hands on his hips, head bowed as if deep in thought. His whole body was loose and slouched, without a shred of poise.
In the past, whenever she saw him like that, she would frown inwardly, frustrated that her brother never seemed to amount to anything. But now, for some reason—perhaps it was just her imagination—that utterly graceless stance made her think of a cheetah crouched on the ground, poised to pounce at any moment.
Then she suddenly remembered the image from not long ago: a wooden chopstick half-buried in the wall. At the time, she'd thought it was a fluke, but now...
"Brother!" A thought struck her, and she called out.
Then she stared at his movements without blinking. Human martial arts forcibly twisted the body's habitual way of exerting force, harnessing the strength of more muscles and amplifying it through the body's many levers.
Anyone who had trained in martial arts' methods of exerting force would bear traces of it in their body, to a greater or lesser degree—whether in the way they walked or...
Chen Shouyi turned around, puzzled. "What is it?"
Chen Xingyue stared blankly for a moment, then came back to herself and said, "Nothing. I just wanted to call you."
What's wrong with her? Chen Shouyi grumbled to himself.
"Did you notice?" Lu Shuyuan said softly, blushing. "When ordinary people look at something less than fifteen degrees to their side, they usually just turn their heads. It takes the least effort and is the most convenient. But seasoned Martial Apprentices and even martial artists are different. They move their whole spine, along with their hips, leg joints, and even a whole series of muscles. Their bodies move as one.
"That's because after years of practicing how to exert force, it becomes a habit, ingrained in their bones."
"That still doesn't prove how strong he is. Maybe it's just a coincidence," Chen Xingyue said, still struggling to accept it, her thoughts tangled.
"That's because you haven't watched him walk. If you had, you wouldn't say that. Every step he takes is almost imperceptibly a standard 'Basic Footwork' step. When he moves, it's as if he's gliding just above the ground.
"Either he became a Martial Apprentice a long time ago, or his Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self is close to refining every muscle in his body."
"Now that you mention it, I think you're right. Xingyue, why do I get the feeling you don't know your brother very well?" Zhang Qianru said, perplexed.
Chen Xingyue opened her mouth, but in the end, she said nothing. Her thoughts were a tangled mess.
As soon as it passed eight thirty, registration for the Martial Arts Assessment began.
The Martial Arts Assessment had a great many events. The physical tests alone included a hundred-meter sprint, bench press, lift, and squat. After that came archery and, most difficult of all, Cold Weapon Combat.
"Number 102, Chen Xingyue. Hundred-meter sprint: 10.11 seconds. Passed!"
"Number 102, Chen Xingyue. Bench press: 155 kilograms. Passed!"
"Number 102, Chen Xingyue. Squat: 265 kilograms. Passed!"
The physical requirements for female Martial Apprentices were considerably lower than those for men. Chen Shouyi suddenly found himself relieved to realize that if he took the women's assessment, he'd definitely pass, too.
"Brother Shouyi, would you like some water?" Lu Shuyuan shyly handed him a bottle.
"Oh, thanks." Chen Shouyi took it and drank a little, then casually asked, "Are you two classmates with Xingyue?"
"Yes. We're both in the martial arts class, and she's my deskmate," Lu Shuyuan said, looking demure.
"We're both close friends of Xingyue's!" Zhang Qianru chimed in from the side, unwilling to be outdone. Full of youthful energy, she pressed her body against Chen Shouyi's arm, brushing against him as if by accident—or perhaps not.
The girl's soft touch made Chen Shouyi stiffen all over.
Fortunately, Chen Xingyue returned just then. Chen Shouyi let out a breath of relief and hurriedly said, "Ah, Xingyue, you passed all the physical tests!"
Chen Xingyue returned without a trace of excitement on her face. When she looked at Chen Shouyi, her expression was complicated and gloomy.
He was completely baffled, but didn't think much of it. "Why don't you rest for a while? You can take the archery test later."
Chen Xingyue nodded without saying anything. She took the water from Lu Shuyuan, drank a little, then sat off to the side and closed her eyes to rest.
After a little over ten minutes, Chen Xingyue stood up, walked to the archery testing area, and began her test.
The archery test had two events: stationary targets and moving targets. Both had strict time limits.
Ten arrows in ten seconds meant firing one arrow every second.
The bows were modern recurve bows, powerful and accurate.
Chen Xingyue passed this event easily, too. Whether shooting at stationary or moving targets, every arrow came close to a perfect ten, with force behind each shot.
After passing, Chen Xingyue didn't feel any more at ease. Instead, she grew even more nervous. Her face was taut, with a hint of coldness.
"Xingyue, your swordsmanship has always been the best. You've got this," Zhang Qianru encouraged her.
"The teacher said you could do it, so you definitely can. He's a real martial artist, after all!"
Chen Shouyi offered some reassurance, too. "Actually, you don't have to worry too much. If you don't pass this time, you can always try again."
Chen Xingyue shot her brother a peeved look at his gloomy prediction. She didn't feel like talking to him, but it had eased her nerves a little.
They stayed with Chen Xingyue while she rested for a full half hour, then headed to the Cold Weapon Combat arena.
The opponent in the Cold Weapon Combat test wasn't a person but a testing robot. Calling it a robot was a stretch; it bore no resemblance to a human at all. It was fixed to the platform, with a wooden sword in one mechanical arm and a spear about three meters long in the other.
The conditions for passing were simple: use a weapon to land enough attacks on its alloy body.
At that moment, someone was about to take the test on the platform.
He was a middle-aged man in his thirties. His expression grave, he walked toward the platform one step at a time.
A detection zone was marked on the platform. As soon as a candidate entered it, the robot would identify them and begin the combat test.
The man stopped just before the detection zone, unable to make himself take another step.
Chen Shouyi noticed cold sweat beading on his forehead, one drop at a time. The man took several deep breaths and steeled himself for a few seconds before stepping onto the platform.
"Assessment begins!"
At the mechanical voice, the robot's two arms immediately began to move.
With a low shout, the man stepped into Basic Footwork and covered more than two meters in a single stride, entering the robot's attack range in an instant. The robot's arms reacted at once, moving with astonishing speed.
The right mechanical arm, holding the spear in midair, bent slightly at the joint. Then it thrust toward him like a streak of lightning.
The man had solid fundamentals. He flicked his arm, knocking the spear aside with his wooden sword. Riding the force, he advanced several more steps, closing to within two meters of the robot.
But that was as far as he got. The left mechanical arm, which had been hanging low and holding the wooden sword, seemed to have been lying in wait. It suddenly shot forward like a venomous snake, stabbing at the man's head with blinding speed.
Chen Shouyi nearly cried out.
Fortunately, the robot didn't malfunction, and tragedy was averted. The wooden sword stopped abruptly, less than an inch from the man's forehead.
"Assessment failed."
Whether he'd been scared by the near miss or couldn't bear the blow of failure, the man swayed, his face pale. It took several seconds for him to recover. Then he staggered off the platform.
The second candidate failed, too.
The third did as well.
One failure after another made Chen Xingyue increasingly nervous.
Chen Shouyi noticed that the hand she had clenched so tightly had gone white at the knuckles.
Before you continue