Li Yuan countered question after question, each one grounded in facts and reason.
Director Ma wanted to brush him off with the same excuses again, but he was almost too embarrassed to say them aloud.
Li Yuan knew very well why Director Ma had come looking for him today.
Principal Yin did not directly manage the day-to-day work and did not know who was actually getting things done.
But Director Ma knew.
Li Yuan helped handle quite a few of the school's affairs.
Unlike Jin Fan and the others, who were teachers but devoted ninety-five percent of their attention to their own cultivation.
In the past, whenever Jin Fan and the others went away on business, Li Yuan covered their classes.
If Li Yuan started slacking off or resigned, Director Ma would be in trouble for quite a while.
One's position determined one's perspective.
Director Ma and Principal Yin did not see things entirely the same way.
But if Li Yuan refused to compromise, he could only handle things as Principal Yin had instructed.
Seeing Li Yuan's attitude, Director Ma became even more forceful. "Since you want to hear the truth, then I'll be direct.
The school leadership discussed this long ago. Your martial arts Talents are limited.
Even if we gave you an opportunity, you would not achieve the results the other teachers can.
You can say I lack foresight, but Principal Yin is a Seventh-Rank Martial Dao powerhouse. His judgment can't be wrong, can it?"
Li Yuan was not shaken by the disparagement.
Their contempt and dismissal of him came only from their arrogance.
If they had the ability, why not give him a chance to try?
They had never given him an opportunity, yet they claimed he could not do it. On what grounds?
Besides, he had earned many of those opportunities himself.
"I've said everything that needs to be said. You won't be participating in the Youth Martial Tournament.
The age gap may not be large, but the gap between people certainly is.
When the time comes, if you can't even take one move from Teacher Jin Fan, it'll be even more embarrassing.
And let me remind you of one more thing.
With this selfish behavior of yours, you may not even be able to keep this job. The principal has a very poor opinion of you."
After saying that, Director Ma could not be bothered to keep drinking with Li Yuan.
He felt he had given Li Yuan more than enough face, yet Li Yuan was still so tactless.
Then there was no point saying more. He would find a replacement teacher ahead of time and proceed according to the principal's demands.
At the end of this semester, he would give Li Yuan a C rating.
Li Yuan did not care about Director Ma's threats.
His cultivation Talents had never been poor, and now he had gained a new ability.
With these advantages, he was confident he could secure a spot in the Youth Martial Tournament.
After Director Ma left, Li Yuan finished the drinking snacks he had brought.
Then he focused his mind and began studying his martial skills and movement art anew.
Li Yuan mainly practiced two martial skill sets.
One was the Collapse Extreme Fist, and the other was the Six Martial Chain Blade.
They were somewhat difficult, but far, far simpler than the Cloud Extreme Fist.
Li Yuan had practiced these two martial skills for more than ten years.
He had already devoted considerable effort to them in university, so naturally he would not discard them now.
Li Yuan had always thought he knew these two martial skills inside and out.
Yet when he reread the Collapse Extreme Fist, he had only reached the halfway point when he noticed details he had never paid attention to before.
Li Yuan had regarded the Collapse Extreme Fist as a brute's boxing art, and that was also the prevailing view in academic circles.
Its hard, forceful punches struck solidly with every move, power unleashed directly and without flourish.
By traditional understanding, the Collapse Extreme Fist was about raising one's strength to the utmost limit.
Unleashing the most extreme fist force was considered its deepest secret.
But this rereading showed Li Yuan something different.
So-called collapse extreme meant surpassing the extreme and ascending to a higher level.
When punching, one should use the Stopping Point Method to draw in the force, seeking a swifter and fiercer next punch!
The [Enlightenment to Perfection] Talents truly allowed him to see more deeply.
It struck directly at the core of the technique, allowing him to thoroughly understand its roots.
After rereading the Collapse Extreme Fist once, Li Yuan immediately went outside.
The place he rented was far too small and had no space for martial arts practice.
However, he lived in the suburbs, a remote area with plenty of open land.
Li Yuan found a quiet spot and began practicing the newly comprehended Collapse Extreme Fist.
His fist force whistled through the air, and his moves remained fierce.
The essence of the hard fist had not changed, but with Li Yuan's understanding of the Stopping Point Method, he could raise the momentum of his punches by nearly thirty percent.
Move after move, Li Yuan continuously practiced his punches.
In truth, this technique was difficult.
Like the Zhou Tian Dao Yin Technique, the key points he had failed to comprehend before were inherently hard to master.
The Collapse Extreme Fist was merely a Mid-grade Martial Skill.
But once he mastered the Stopping Point Method, the power of the Collapse Extreme Fist would likely not lose out to many High-grade Martial Skills.
After an hour, Li Yuan had initially grasped the method of pausing within his punches.
He continued practicing for another hour and gradually entered the groove.
By three in the afternoon, after four hours of practice, he had become proficient.
Li Yuan could now apply his new understanding of the Collapse Extreme Fist in actual combat.
Punching in the open field, he could easily create sonic booms.
Among those of the same Fourth Grade, Li Yuan did not believe anyone could clash head-on with this punch.
Such high-intensity training, constantly unleashing Ultimate Heavy Fists, naturally consumed a great deal of energy.
But Li Yuan did not feel tired today.
The Zhou Tian Dao Yin Technique had tempered his body the previous night, and its effects had been immediate.
Not only was his body not overly fatigued, Li Yuan also felt full of vigor.
After returning home, he took out the Six Martial Chain Blade and reread it for further study.
Compared to the Collapse Extreme Fist, the Six Martial Chain Blade was more suited to actual combat against Fierce Beasts.
The nation's most fundamental purpose in needing martial artists was still to protect humanity.
During his training on the front lines, Li Yuan had used this blade art to kill an Ironback Silver Boar.
The current understanding of this blade art held that its core lay in its unceasing blade momentum.
One layer of blade momentum after another broke through solid defenses, forcibly creating an opening.
Upon rereading it, Li Yuan discovered that this understanding was truly too shallow.
The core of the Six Martial Chain Blade was indeed its interlocking blade momentum.
But during cultivation, people had overlooked the deeper meaning contained in the words "Six Martial."
Six Martial did not simply refer to these six blade techniques.
Rather, it told practitioners that these six moves were the foundation of martial arts.
Combining the six moves in pairs formed new blade techniques.
With the original Six Martial Chain Blade, Li Yuan could also unleash an unending torrent of blade momentum against his opponents.
But whenever he attacked, he was always too rigid.
Sometimes, he found it difficult to adapt even when facing Fierce Beasts.
Now, the Six Martial Chain Blade seemed to come alive anew in Li Yuan's eyes.
After reading through it, Li Yuan went out to the open field again.
Night had fallen. Li Yuan picked up a tree branch and began practicing.
The variations formed by combining moves in pairs naturally made cultivation even more difficult.
Though he had gained new insights, Li Yuan was simply too familiar with this martial skill.
His practice therefore progressed relatively smoothly.
Once night had fully fallen, around ten that evening, Li Yuan was more or less able to use it proficiently.
There was still another day tomorrow for continued practice.
Over the two days of the weekend, Li Yuan devoted all his attention to martial arts cultivation.
Besides the two martial skills, he also reread and retrained his movement art, the Cloud Treading Step.
After two days, Li Yuan felt as though he had undergone a complete transformation.
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