Hope of Reaching the Pinnacle of Martial Dao

At seven in the morning, a rapid knock on the door jolted Lin Ye awake from a deep sleep.

"Xiaoye, get up!"

"You're going to be late!"

His mother's anxious voice came through the door.

Hearing the urgent knocking, Lin Ye finally startled awake. Then, hearing his mother's hurried voice, he abruptly sat up, much of the sleepiness vanishing from his face. He looked at the alarm clock by his bed. It was 7:12.

He had actually overslept.

Strange.

But he could not be bothered to think about why. He called back to his mother, hurriedly threw on his clothes, and rushed into the bathroom to wash up in a slapdash manner.

He had to be at school before eight. The bus ride from home to school took around half an hour, not counting the time spent waiting for the bus... He did not dare think about it.

"Take breakfast with you and eat it on the way!"

When Lin Ye finished washing up and came out of the bathroom, Wang Xiulan stuffed a paper bag into his hand.

"And this—"

She took a palm-sized cake from the refrigerator, packed in a small transparent box and decorated with a little cream and several strawberries.

"This is your birthday cake. Take it with you. You can have it between classes if you get hungry."

There was a trace of reproach in his mother's voice, but far more concern.

"Thanks, Mom!"

With no time to think any further, Lin Ye grabbed the cake, put it into the paper bag, and rushed out the door. He ran down the stairs, then sprinted toward the bus stop after leaving the residential complex.

Linjiang District was already coming alive in the early morning. Steam from breakfast stalls rose through the cold air, while several elderly people doing morning exercises practiced fist forms in the open space of the complex. They were practicing Rolling Stone Fist too, their movements slow yet steady.

By the time he ran to the stop, the driverless bus was pulling in.

Without hesitation, he immediately rushed aboard, swiped his card, and sat in the last row. Only then did he have time to catch his breath.

He opened the paper bag his mother had given him. Inside were two buns, a box of soy milk, and that little transparent cake box.

Lin Ye ate the buns and drank the soy milk first, then carefully opened the cake box and ate the small cake bite by bite.

The cream was sweet without being cloying, the sponge was soft, and the strawberries were sweet and tart.

This coming-of-age cake was delicious.

When he got off the bus, it was already 7:50.

By the time Lin Ye ran through the school gates, dashed up to the fifth floor of the teaching building, and stepped into the classroom, it was exactly 7:59. He had practically sprinted in on the heels of the bell. Panting, he sat down, drawing a slightly surprised glance from his deskmate—Lin Ye was usually the well-behaved student who was never late. Why was he in such a rush this time?

Facing the strange looks around him, Lin Ye said nothing. He merely lowered his head, took out his textbooks from the desk drawer, and attended class and took notes as usual.

The morning academic classes passed uneventfully.

In the afternoon, they went to the Martial Arts Pavilion.

After a simple warm-up, Teacher Zheng gave the order. "Primordial Stance, one hour!"

The students immediately began groaning and wailing again, but under Zheng Huai's stern gaze, they could only take up their stances one after another and begin the day's standing practice.

Lin Ye closed his eyes as well, adjusted his breathing, and recalled the ankle-relaxation technique Teacher Zheng had taught him yesterday.

This time, he was exceptionally focused.

One minute, two minutes...

His calves began to ache, and his thigh muscles trembled faintly.

Lin Ye struggled to maintain his posture. Feeling the reactive force coming up from the ground, he kept making adjustments to relax his ankles and let his Blood Qi flow smoothly upward.

Perhaps because he had not fully adjusted his posture into place, Lin Ye still felt weakness and soreness in his calves, while his thigh muscles continued to tremble.

But just when he thought his posture was still wrong and planned to keep adjusting it—

A line of pale blue text appeared before his eyes without warning.

[Primordial Stance (Beginner): 85/100]

Lin Ye's pupils suddenly constricted.

What?

He blinked, but the line remained, hovering in the middle of his vision like some kind of holographic projection. Yet when he glanced around, it seemed that only he could see it.

A hallucination?

But then, thinking of a certain possibility, his heart began to pound wildly.

Keeping his stance unchanged, he stared fixedly at the line of text. The numbers did not change, but they were undeniably there.

"Lin Ye, relax your ankles!"

Teacher Zheng's voice sounded from nearby.

Lin Ye nodded and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

Recalling Zheng Huai's guidance from yesterday, he made slight adjustments to his stance, this time with even greater precision. His feet turned slightly inward, the bend of his knees was adjusted by half a degree, his waist and hips relaxed, and the arc of his arms as they loosely embraced the air...

He maintained that posture.

One minute.

Two minutes...

Five minutes...

The soreness and swelling in his calves grew stronger and stronger, while his thigh muscles began to shake violently.

Lin Ye gritted his teeth. He knew he was still far from the correct posture, but at least... following Teacher Zheng's instructions had to be better than standing however he pleased, even if the posture felt somewhat counterintuitive.

Ten minutes.

The pale blue number before his eyes suddenly flickered.

[Primordial Stance (Beginner): 86/100]

It had increased!

An immense joy surged through him, but he did not dare show it. He feared that excitement would distort his posture and make that feeling of being "about to increase" disappear.

Did he have to maintain the correct posture for at least ten minutes to gain one point of proficiency?

He thought.

This time, he only lasted seven minutes before his stiff ankles forced him to make a slight adjustment.

Eight minutes... nine minutes...

"Lin Ye."

Teacher Zheng's voice suddenly sounded by his ear. Lin Ye's entire body jolted, and his posture nearly collapsed. "Relax. You're too tense."

Seeing this, Teacher Zheng crouched down and lightly patted his calf with a smile. "Here, loosen up another half inch. Yes, just like that."

With the teacher's help, Lin Ye readjusted into a more precise posture.

This time, he held on for another ten minutes, and the number jumped again.

[Primordial Stance (Beginner): 87/100]

It increased again!

It seemed his guess had been right. He had to maintain the correct posture for ten minutes before gaining one point of proficiency.

Lin Ye was wildly excited inside and wanted to shout aloud to vent his emotions, but he held it in and continued. However, without the teacher's immediate corrections, slight deviations soon appeared again.

Over the next half hour, he only gained another point once. During that time, he even fell over from concentrating too hard.

When the hour of stance practice ended, Lin Ye's legs were weak, and he could barely stand steady. Yet excitement gleamed in his eyes.

[Primordial Stance (Beginner): 88/100]

Although he had only gained three points of proficiency, which did not seem like much, Lin Ye knew he could not look at it that way. The appearance of this panel meant that as long as he could continuously maintain the correct posture, he could steadily raise his skill proficiency.

What did that mean? It meant this kind of improvement was visible to the naked eye, something that could be measured.

Heaven rewards the diligent!

That was the first phrase Lin Ye thought of. At that moment, he felt that his once dim future had gained new hope because of the panel's appearance.

Hope of reaching the pinnacle of Martial Dao.