Blade Art Perfected

Li Wen's consciousness was immersed in the invisible domain constructed by lv3 [Absolute Focus]; the sounds, gazes, and even the flow of time from the outside world became blurred and indistinct.

Only the cold touch of the standard-issue fine steel saber in his hand, and the increasingly pure and penetrating blade principles flowing through his mind, were real.

The Tiger Guard Blade Art had long surpassed its original fixed framework in his hands.

Every swing was no longer a rote imitation, but a natural pursuit of the optimal solution for every muscle, bone, and flow of blood and qi in his body.

Subtle adjustments to angle, power, and speed came effortlessly; the blade's momentum was unbroken, alternating between fast and slow. Each slash carried a more refined dissolution of air resistance and a more accurate prediction of the target's trajectory.

The bottleneck, like a membrane blocking the final step, was now covered in countless fine, web-like cracks under the sustained, high-concentration impact of insight.

While Li Wen was immersed in the world of the blade, the other martial arts students of Class 21 also arrived at the training room earlier than usual.

Clearly, the recent news of Flying Star Class and Li Wen's rapid blade art progress had stirred them up considerably.

However, when they pushed open that familiar door, thick with the scent of sweat and tenacity, the expected scene greeted their eyes.

In the corner of the room, Li Wen's figure was already drenched in sweat, swinging his blade. The familiar sound of the fine steel saber cutting through air now carried a rhythm different from before in everyone's ears.

"Tsk, the grind king's at it again," someone muttered quietly, their tone laced with habitual helplessness and a numb sense of "of course."

"Hey, wait..." A male student, also stuck at the final bottleneck of high-level mastery and frustrated after months of practice, was the first to notice something off. He stopped, furrowed his brow, and stared at Li Wen's movements. "Don't you guys feel like... the grind king's blade today is a bit different?"

"Huh?" Prompted by him, several other classmates stuck at the same bottleneck focused their gazes.

"It's a bit... hard to describe, but smoother?"

"Seems like... every move lands better? That feeling..."

"He's not..." The first male student's voice carried an incredulous shock. "Didn't he just reach high-level mastery less than a week ago? Could he be... breaking through to perfection?!"

This statement was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake.

The pupils of several male students, who knew all too well how solid and despairing this bottleneck was—like an iron wall—contracted instantly.

Among them, the shortest time stuck at the bottleneck was over a month; the longest had endured nearly half a semester. Day after day of hard training had only yielded an unmoving bottleneck.

Now, someone who had only crossed the threshold of high-level mastery seven days ago was about to leap over the chasm that had trapped them in a quagmire of pain and frustration, right before their eyes?

Shock, envy, bitterness, a trace of indescribable jealousy, and a crushing sense of disparity seized their hearts in an instant.

"Xue Jun! Xue Jun's here!" Someone with sharp eyes spotted the class's top student just stepping through the door. Immediately, as if finding a pillar of support, they called out urgently: "Xue Jun! Take a look! The grind king... is his blade art about to break through?"

Xue Jun, just entering, was baffled by the urgent atmosphere. He shook his head instinctively. "What are you talking about? He only reached high-level mastery a few days ago..."

But the others' expressions were unusually serious, not like a joke. They even actively made space, pointing toward Li Wen in the corner. Xue Jun's heart skipped a beat. Putting aside his playful thoughts, he looked over with a scrutinizing gaze.

After just one glance, Xue Jun's brow involuntarily tightened.

As the only student in Class 21 who had reached high-level perfection, he was all too familiar with the feeling of an imminent breakthrough—that sense of something about to burst forth.

The blade art Li Wen was practicing now, though different in detail from his own spear technique, shared at least seventy to eighty percent similarity in its smooth, seamless flow and the trend of being on the verge of piercing the final layer of paper, just like before his own breakthrough.

A powerful impact made Xue Jun's breath catch slightly.

He stared at the unceasing figure. After a moment, he spoke slowly, his voice complex and solemn: "...It seems our class's second high-level technique perfectionist is about to be born."

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of every nearby classmate straining to listen.

"He's really about to break through!"

"Seven days... only seven days!" Xue Jun's judgment, like a final verdict, ignited a wave of commotion in the small area.

Envy, admiration, disbelief, and even deeper jealousy—complex emotions interwove on everyone's faces, ultimately coalescing into immense shock.

They realized that the Li Wen who only knew how to mechanically chop day after day, mockingly called the grind king, was probably... gone for good.

And at the center of the storm, Li Wen was utterly oblivious to the discussions and gazes around him. His entire mind was immersed in the blade in his hand.

The body's natural fatigue was suppressed by the high excitement of his spirit. lv3 Absolute Focus provided unprecedented speed of deduction and depth of understanding.

The tenth repetition!

The final form of the Tiger Guard Blade Art—"Tiger Crouching at the Pass"!

The blade's edge broke the air, fierce and unmatched! Just as the blade reached the peak of speed and power—

Hum! In his mind, an invisible shackle was violently shattered by the surging torrent of blade intent!

Countless subtle intricacies he had never understood or grasped before instantly merged and connected, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.

An unprecedented feeling of perfection, clarity, and total control arose.

Success! Tiger Guard Blade Art—Perfection Realm!

At that very moment, the bell for the afternoon's second martial arts class rang without pause, sharp and urgent.

Ding-ling-ling-ling—!

The bell jolted Li Wen out of his immersion.

Fatigue surged through his limbs like a tide—a sign of extreme mental and physical exhaustion—but beneath it lay unparalleled ease and clarity.

"Haah—" Li Wen let out a long, deep breath of stale air.

He subconsciously stopped his blade, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, only belatedly registering the unusual silence that had fallen over the classroom.

A deathly stillness. Dozens of eyes were fixed squarely on him, their expressions so complex they defied description. Only the relentless bell continued to ring stubbornly.

And then—

"Boom—!" Like a pot of water suddenly boiling over, an uproar louder than the bell exploded forth, drowning the entire martial arts classroom!

"Br... broke through?! He really broke through?!"

"Holy shit! Seven days! From Grand Completion to Perfection!"

"Seven days!!"

"He awakened! He really awakened!!!" Wei Wu's voice was the most excited and piercing, almost a roar, his face a mask of undisguised ecstasy and exhilaration.

As a fellow comrade on the same "grind" path and a classmate with no direct competitive conflict, he was genuinely happy for Li Wen.

"Excellent!!!" A booming, rousing voice cut through the noise—it was Wang Hu, the martial arts teacher, who had just stepped into the classroom as the bell rang.

His face flushed with color, his eyes blazing as he stared at Li Wen, he was the first to clap vigorously:

"Good! Well done, Li Wen! Looks like this time, for the Flying Star Class selection, our Class 21 has a very good chance of gaining one more slot! This is an incredible improvement!"

With Wang Hu taking the lead, the clamoring discussion quickly transformed into thunderous applause.

Everyone, regardless of their private thoughts, set them aside for the moment and clapped with force.

Awe, complexity, envy—all these emotions merged into the unending applause, lasting a full five or six minutes, until Wang Hu waved his hand to signal them to stop, and the classroom returned to order.

"Alright! Li Wen's breakthrough is a good thing, a point of pride for Class 21! But I hope this can become a driving force that spurs everyone on!"

Wang Hu stood in the center of the training ground, his voice resonant. "Look at Li Wen—his starting point wasn't advantageous, his resources were even more lacking, yet with sheer willpower and bit-by-bit accumulation, he forcibly shattered the first tough bottleneck blocking his path!

What does this prove? Effort and persistence are never wasted! Now, all of you, perk up, take Li Wen as your target, and take today's practice seriously!"

Perhaps it was witnessing an almost impossible miracle happen right beside them, or maybe it was the rare anticipation and fervor in Wang Hu's words that infected everyone.

Throughout the afternoon, the atmosphere in Class 21's martial arts classroom became unprecedentedly focused and diligent.

The shouts of training were more forceful than before, and every movement strove for perfect form. Even those students who were usually a bit slack now had a spark in their eyes—a flame that refused to fall behind, eager to give it a try.

Watching the entire class's rising spirit and morale, a smile Wang Hu couldn't suppress tugged at his lips.

When he had drawn this "retirement" Class 21, full of background connections and nepotism, with the overall martial arts strength at rock bottom, he had once been disheartened, only thinking about getting through the teaching tasks.

But Li Wen, this dark horse that had suddenly burst onto the scene, brought him an unexpected delight, even a glimmer of hope for a turnaround.

He couldn't help but cast a few more glances at Li Wen, who was diligently practicing in the corner to consolidate his Perfection realm, his eyes shimmering with deeper expectations.

Just reaching Advanced Perfection in a technique might not be enough to catch the attention of truly important figures.

But what if... what if Li Wen could press forward and step into that crucial threshold of martial transcendence, the "Unity Realm"?

As his homeroom martial arts teacher, who had personally discovered and nurtured him, the reward... would be enough to make his mouth water.

He had heard about the hefty bonuses received by the homeroom teachers of those few students from Qingshi No.1 High School who had been signed early.

Starting at a hundred thousand, up to five hundred thousand... that sum of money, for someone like him stuck at the peak of Intermediate Martial Artist, whose blood energy hadn't yet begun to decline noticeably, was the key resource for breaking through to Super Martial Artist.

Thinking this, Wang Hu felt his own heartbeat quicken.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil inside:

"Steady, steady... just reached Advanced Perfection... observe a bit more, see how his comprehension develops later... the Unity Realm, can't rush it..."

He silently admonished himself, but the way he looked at Li Wen had already turned scorching hot, as if he were seeing his own future fortune.

The class-ending bell rang.

Time had flown by in focused training; in the blink of an eye, the first afternoon class was over.

"Li Wen!" Wang Hu's voice rang out, carrying a faint trace of barely concealed excitement. "Come with me."

"Yes, teacher!" Li Wen understood in his heart. He sheathed his blade and quickly walked over to Wang Hu's side.

He knew what this meant—after reaching Perfection in his blade technique, he was being taken to access a top-tier blade technique.

This was the key to a higher level, crucial to whether he could stand out in the Flying Star Class selection and the end-of-term martial arts assessment.

Basic, Advanced, Top-tier—the gap between the three was like a chasm. Even just the entry-level realm of a top-tier blade technique was enough to crush Advanced Perfection.

With only two days left until the final exams, what could he achieve in this short time? Would he face the battle with the overwhelming disadvantage of Advanced Perfection, or take the risky gamble on breaking into Top-tier Entry?

Success in the latter would be a qualitative leap; failure would likely mean he could only take the final assessment with his Advanced Perfection blade technique.

A heavy sense of urgency pressed down on his heart, but it also ignited a fiercer fighting spirit in his eyes.

Without further words, Li Wen followed Wang Hu as they quickly left the noisy classroom.

The two hurried along the connecting corridors between the teaching buildings, soon arriving before the school's most richly stocked building—the Qingshi No.3 High School Library.

Entering the spacious lobby, Wang Hu familiarly walked toward a side elevator marked "Staff Only," swiped his card to activate it. The elevator rose smoothly, the numbers ticking upward, finally stopping at the sixth floor.

"Ding!" The elevator doors slid open, revealing a quiet corridor lined with sound-absorbing carpet and wall sconces emitting a soft, gentle light.

Wang Hu walked straight to the end, toward a heavy metal door engraved with complex energy patterns. The nameplate on it clearly read: [Top Technique Room].

Wang Hu reached out and pressed the doorbell button beside the door.

Ding-dong—!

After about ten-odd seconds, accompanied by a faint mechanical whir, the heavy metal door slid silently inward.

A spirited old man with eyes as sharp as an eagle's appeared behind the door. His posture was straight, dressed in simple training clothes. His gaze swept over Wang Hu before settling on Li Wen, carrying a hint of scrutiny.

Wang Hu stepped forward to introduce him: "Elder Han, this is student Li Wen. His blade art has reached perfection. According to the rules, I've brought him to choose a top-tier blade art." He deliberately patted Li Wen's shoulder, a gesture of recommendation.

Elder Han's gaze lingered on Li Wen's face for a moment, that piercing look seemingly able to penetrate flesh and bone, reaching straight to the spirit.

He gave a slight nod and stepped aside to make way: "Mm, come in." His voice was steady and firm.

"This is his third time choosing a blade art. I won't go in—I've got a class soon." Wang Hu pointed at his watch as he spoke to Elder Han, then turned to Li Wen, giving his shoulder a firm squeeze, his eyes carrying encouragement and expectation: "Choose well! Don't waste the opportunity! Head straight back to the classroom after you're done." With that, he turned and strode quickly toward the elevator.

"Thank you, Teacher Wang!" Li Wen called out his thanks to Wang Hu's retreating back.

Elder Han looked at Li Wen and said, "Report to me the names of your basic blade art, advanced blade art, and the basic qi and blood technique you cultivate."

"Yes, Elder Han. Basic blade art: Basic Twelve Forms; advanced blade art: Tiger Guard Blade Art; basic technique: Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method." Li Wen answered clearly.

Elder Han walked to the console by the door and entered this information.

Then he instructed Li Wen: "Stand in that monitoring area and perform your best Tiger Guard Blade Art from start to finish, with full concentration."

Li Wen did as told, stepping into the open area designated by the console. He held his breath, gathered his focus, and once again executed the Tiger Guard Blade Art, now just broken through to a state of seamless harmony.

The console's light flickered faintly, and an invisible wave of energy swept across Li Wen's body and the trajectory of his blade.

After only half a minute, the holographic projection at the center of the console lit up, clearly and three-dimensionally listing the information on four top-tier blade arts:

Rainbow Light Blade Art—Compatibility: 99.9% Gale Blade Art—Compatibility: 99.6% Jade Tiger Blade Art—Compatibility: 99.5% Golden Dragon Blade Art—Compatibility: 99.3%

Rainbow Light and Gale focused on speed and agility; Jade Tiger and Golden Dragon on killing power and strong offense.

But the glaring "99.9%" compatibility at the very top of the screen, like a lighthouse in the dark night, instantly seized all of Li Wen's attention.

"Elder Han, I choose Rainbow Light Blade Art." Li Wen pointed without hesitation at the blade art in the hologram, which looked like a fleeting streak of light.

Extreme speed, paired with his level 3 Absolute Focus—this was the path he craved most at this moment.

Elder Han glanced at the highest compatibility and a hint of approval showed in his eyes: "Not bad. Choosing the one with the highest compatibility will benefit you most in both getting started and subsequent improvement."

He said no more, walked to the main control computer, and operated it for a moment before saying: "Permissions have been activated. For the next three days, you can go directly to the 'Top Technique Comprehension Room' on the top floor using your student ID card for immersive image learning and initial comprehension.

Remember, three days! After the image learning ends, you must return to regular classroom practice. The end-of-term exam is approaching, and practical combat training in martial arts class is also important."

"Thank you, Elder Han!" Li Wen expressed his gratitude solemnly.

He caught the hint in Elder Han's eyes that he could leave, bowed once more, turned, and walked out of the room filled with the aura of advanced techniques.

The metal door closed silently behind him, sealing off that weighty atmosphere. Standing in the hallway before the elevator, Li Wen clenched his fist.

Three days! Only three days to access the virtual images of Rainbow Light Blade Art! And less than 48 hours until the end-of-term exam! Every second counted; there was no time to waste.

He took a deep breath and pressed the down button on the elevator, the light from the ceiling reflecting in his eyes like the future he had just set his sights on—one named "Rainbow Light."

That door leading to a higher level had finally opened a crack for him.