Scholarship

Lin Hong had looked over Chen Mochuan's stance yesterday. Though he wasn't far from Great Completion, it should've taken at least another seven or eight days. How had he broken through already?

Suspecting he'd seen wrong, Lin Hong focused and observed for a while longer before finally confirming it.

"The stance is deep and steady, yet it carries an effortless looseness. It's clearly stronger than yesterday—he really has reached Great Completion!"

After a brief consideration, he gave a grave order. "Everyone, switch to the fifteenth form!"

The moment those words came out, quite a few students already at their limits cried out inwardly.

They'd thought they could return to the easier thirteenth form as usual. Instead, the difficulty had risen rather than fallen. But they didn't dare defy Lin Hong and could only grit their teeth and comply.

The eighteen forms of the Root-Solidifying Stance were linked one after another, progressing step by step. If the previous form hadn't been mastered, forcing oneself to practice the next would make guiding one's blood and qi agonizing, impossible to sustain for long.

Sure enough, within three to five minutes, one student was the first to give out, staggering and collapsing to the ground.

Then, as if a row of dominoes had been knocked over, students one after another found their legs going weak and trembling, falling out of their stances.

Yet Lin Hong didn't berate them as he usually did. He merely waved the failed students back to the thirteenth or fourteenth form, his gaze fixed on Chen Mochuan the entire time.

His surprise deepened. He's standing so steadily even in the fifteenth form. Judging by this level, it doesn't look like he's only just entered Great Completion... How could his Stance Training improve so quickly overnight?

More than ten minutes passed, and only three people remained on the field.

Besides Chen Mochuan, there were Jiang Hao and Su Zhining, who had long held the top two spots in their grade.

But by now, both were nearing their limits. Even with Lin Hong constantly offering pointers and correcting their postures from the side, their stances inevitably began to deform.

The two seemed to be competing in secret, neither willing to be the first to withdraw from their stance.

In the end, Lin Hong worried they might get injured and delay their subsequent training, so he forcibly stopped them and had them return to the fourteenth form.

Only then did all the students realize in astonishment that Chen Mochuan alone remained in the fifteenth-form stance, as steady as a boulder, and had already maintained it for twenty minutes.

Even with Lin Hong keeping order, a wave of whispers still rose through the Martial Arts Arena.

"Chen Mochuan's Root-Solidifying Stance... has it reached Great Completion?"

"Definitely! That endurance is a whole level above even Jiang Hao and Su Zhining's. He's miles ahead!"

"What use is good Stance Training? His Blood-Qi Value isn't even 3. In the end, it's just a flashy facade..."

Only after Lin Hong coughed heavily twice and swept his gaze over the entire field did the discussion quickly die down.

At that moment, Chen Mochuan's mind was immersed in sorting through the incomplete insights he'd absorbed that morning.

Unlike the systematic and complete insights into fist techniques from the notebook, these "spirits" from the crowd were vast and jumbled, fragmented, and even mixed with many mistaken understandings and experiences.

He had to expend mental effort to carefully distinguish and categorize them, stripping away the dross and preserving the essence before transforming them into true nourishment for his martial path.

This wasn't easy, but throughout the process, he was continuously inspired.

He gained new insights into the many subtle details of the Root-Solidifying Stance. His realm in Stance Training was quietly yet solidly advancing at a pace far beyond his usual diligent practice.

When the bell rang for the end of class and he withdrew his stance, the information on the light screen updated as well:

[You sorted through martial arts insights. Your Root-Solidifying Stance has improved, your blood and qi have been stimulated, and your physical fitness has increased.]

[Root-Solidifying Stance: Great Completion (6%) → Great Completion (7%)]

[Blood-Qi Value: 3.06 → 3.07]

Lin Hong hadn't found it convenient to disturb him while he was standing in stance. Now that Chen Mochuan had finished, he walked over.

Drawing on his extensive teaching experience, he roughly guessed the reason. "Mochuan, have you recently triggered Wisdom Heart?"

Quite a few students didn't rush straight to the showers after Stance Training class as usual. Instead, they slowed down and pricked up their ears to listen to the conversation between the two.

"Yes, Teacher. Last night, while practicing my stance, I was fortunate enough to enter the Wisdom Heart state." Chen Mochuan nodded openly in admission.

There was no need to hide it. Since he'd decided to reveal his brilliance, appropriately displaying his "talent" was the key to obtaining certain resources and scholarships from the school.

"Good! Exceptional comprehension is also a rare talent!" Lin Hong beamed. "Keep progressing at this rate, and you'll definitely train your Root-Solidifying Stance to Perfection before the College Entrance Exam!"

Instruments could detect talent related to physical fitness, but they couldn't measure something as elusive as comprehension.

The Wisdom Heart state was something one could encounter only by chance. Among this year's seniors, only Jiang Hao and Su Zhining had triggered it once before, while Chen Mochuan had now experienced it three times counting this occasion.

His talent for comprehension stood alone at the top of Eighth High School. Naturally, Lin Hong was overjoyed to have such a student under his tutelage.

"All right, go shower. Don't delay the next class." Lin Hong gave the reminder, then turned and strode away.

Among the watching students, Lu Ren heard everything, and his expression darkened a little.

[Bank account ending in XXXX: October 9, 09:23. Income: 2,000 yuan. Balance: 3,792.66 yuan. Note: School-Level Academic Scholarship.]

Just after leaving the school's public shower room, Chen Mochuan received a text message on his Personal Terminal.

Whenever students broke through to Great Completion in the Root-Solidifying Stance or Foundation Building Fist, the school awarded a 2,000-yuan scholarship as encouragement. He just hadn't expected Teacher Lin to act so quickly.

The money had come at exactly the right time. It neatly filled the hole left by using up an entire box of Blood Qi Supplements last night, so he wouldn't need to ask his parents for money for the time being or face the plight of running out of provisions.

With the scholarship in hand, he headed happily toward the classroom. As he passed the Martial Arts Arena, he subconsciously looked inside.

The countless motes of light, visible only to him, still floated there.

The moment he'd stepped into the Martial Arts Arena that morning, he'd sensed the existence of these "spirits."

But after the lesson he'd learned at the residential complex plaza that morning, he worried that absorbing spiritual essence might reveal some abnormality, causing his classmates to notice and grow suspicious.

Moreover, the insights he'd absorbed at the plaza still needed time to digest. There was no need to rush, so he suppressed the stirring in his heart and decided to find a suitable opportunity to absorb this batch of Martial Dao Spirits later.

When he arrived at the classroom, he took his seat and pulled out the history textbook he'd need shortly.

Because Stance Training placed a heavy burden on the body, and high school students were still developing, rest and consolidation had to be arranged reasonably to prevent the body from becoming overworked and damaged.

Therefore, martial arts combat classes such as Foundation Building Fist were all scheduled for the afternoon. The other two morning classes were Academic Subjects such as Martial Arts General Knowledge, Mathematics, Language Arts, and history.

"Click, click, click..."

The crisp sound of high heels drew closer. The fashionably dressed history teacher walked briskly into the classroom and placed a stack of graded exam papers on the podium.

She pointed at several students seated in the first row. "You few, help me hand out the monthly exam papers."