Achievement: Heaven Rewards Diligence!

[Congratulations, young host! Through unremitting effort, you have achieved a breakthrough!]

[Congratulations, young Ji Ruo! You have triggered a special milestone achievement: Heaven Rewards Diligence · Part One!]

[Obtained innate talents: More Is Better! Bigger Is Stronger!]

[More Is Better: When the host gains or faces growth involving 'quantity,' the growth limit for each stage will be raised to that stage's theoretical maximum! (Cannot be upgraded)]

[Bigger Is Stronger: When the host gains or faces growth involving 'size,' the growth limit for each stage will be raised to that stage's theoretical maximum! (Cannot be upgraded)]

[Note: Hardworking children deserve to be rewarded!]

[Note: Your hard work will not go to waste!]

[Note: As you sow, so shall you reap! Keep it up, hardworking child, and grow up healthier and happier!]

The innate talents took effect at once, and Ji Ruo, who had just broken through to the Qi Pulse Realm, began reaping their benefits.

Normally, breaking through to the Qi Pulse Realm came with an infusion of spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Depending on the strength of one's constitution, the intensity of this infusion could vary to a certain degree.

Endurance, luck, willpower, and other factors could all affect the infusion.

The ninth level of Martial Apprentice was the theoretical limit of the constitution an ordinary person could reach, and the level at which one could withstand the greatest infusion of spiritual energy.

During the infusion, the spiritual energy would temper the body to its utmost, causing extremely intense, lingering pain.

How long one could endure it depended entirely on one's willpower.

Moreover, the infusion happened passively. Under normal circumstances, it couldn't be controlled, so luck also played a part.

But Ji Ruo was different.

The pain of the infusion came not only from the tempering of the body, but also in large part from the newly opened Qi Vessel being so narrow that it couldn't bear the influx of much spiritual energy.

With the [Bigger Is Stronger] talent in effect, even though Ji Ruo had only just opened his Qi Vessel, it was already several times wider than an ordinary person's!

The mighty flow of spiritual energy entered through the Baihui Acupoint at the top of his head, then poured down a special pathway through the body—a route that hadn't existed before and had only just been opened—straight to the Danzhong Acupoint in his chest. It gathered there before flowing with his blood to every limb and bone.

The Qi Vessel had only just been opened, yet it was already nearly as wide as an ordinary Qi Pulse Realm martial artist's fully cultivated Qi Vessel.

The resulting infusion was terrifyingly powerful!

Visible waves of spiritual energy converged above Ji Ruo's head into a vortex several meters across. The tempering of his body brought him unimaginable, agonizing pain.

But Ji Ruo gritted his teeth and endured.

And so the [More Is Better] talent kicked in as well.

The vortex of spiritual energy grew several times larger, and it continued to expand without pause—as the two talents worked together to push the quantity and size of the spiritual energy toward their theoretical limits for this stage.

Ji Ruo had broken through while at the eighth level of Martial Apprentice, but in that brief instant, the vast spiritual energy propelled his constitution straight past the ninth level!

His growth was astonishingly fast!

Liang Shixian stared at the scene, dumbstruck. How had Ji Ruo opened his Qi Vessel all of a sudden? Was it really that casual?!

He had no idea that Ji Ruo's life had been hard. The assistance provided by the Great Xia government was barely enough to let Ji Ruo get by, with not a single bit to spare.

It wasn't that the Great Xia government was stingy. The truth was, resources were limited.

The area of cultivated land in Great Xia shrank year after year, while the Demon Monsters had the Secret Realms at their backs and reproduced at an alarming rate. Their resources seemed inexhaustible.

By comparison, for people living in some border regions, even getting enough to eat was no easy task.

Their only hope was to take the Martial Exam: either change their fate and become martial artists who could eat Monster Beasts, or die on Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and be eaten by Demon Monsters.

Ji Ruo's parents had died fighting off a beast tide. The monthly assistance the Great Xia government gave him was enough to let him eat his fill, and that was already the limit.

After all, Ji Ruo wasn't the only orphan in all of Great Xia.

Of course, because regions differed, people's lives tended to be more prosperous the closer they were to the heart of Great Xia.

Even someone like Liang Shixian, with both parents alive and a fairly well-off family, could occasionally eat blood rice.

But Ji Ruo had never eaten it before.

And under those circumstances, the fact that Ji Ruo had still practiced martial arts and reached the sixth level of Martial Apprentice was proof, in its own way, of just how hard the original owner had worked.

He trained several times as much as an ordinary person, sometimes even ten times as much!

Diligence could make up for a lack of talent!

And as a result, Ji Ruo had actually been somewhat undernourished.

His body craved nourishment desperately, and this Martial Exam had made up for what he'd been missing.

So, after hitting rock bottom, he rebounded. Driven by the pure force of his will, Ji Ruo broke through as naturally as breathing.

Wind God Falcon watched Ji Ruo break through to the Qi Pulse Realm and receive the spiritual energy infusion, a hint of surprise in her eyes.

She could feel Ji Ruo growing stronger at a rapid pace—though he was still weak compared to her.

But compared to the Ji Ruo from before, he had practically doubled in strength!

"Chirp~ (Human martial arts really are amazing!)"

Liang Shixian's astonishment didn't last long. He soon began practicing his martial arts again, with even greater focus than before. His punches and kicks carried tremendous force, as though he meant to expend every last bit of his strength!

Ji Ruo's breakthrough didn't make him jealous. He knew Ji Ruo had earned it.

He could only feel happy for Ji Ruo—and then work even harder!

He was the class monitor, after all! How could a class monitor be weaker than his classmates? If he wasn't strong, how could he protect them?

Bolstered by this conviction, and with the Total Concentration Breathing Ji Ruo had taught him gradually reaching the beginner level, Liang Shixian naturally advanced to the ninth level of Martial Apprentice a short while later.

Ji Ruo was still enduring the infusion. His face was twisted in agony, but he didn't make a sound.

Veins bulged across his forehead and neck, as though they were about to burst.

Blood seeped from his skin, gradually staining Ji Ruo's body red.

His heart pounded like a drum, his blood surged like a river!

"Inhale—exhale—"

Half an hour later, Ji Ruo's spiritual energy infusion ended.

The meridians, flesh, and bones throughout his body still ached faintly, but the seemingly inexhaustible strength rising within him filled Ji Ruo with joy.

"Breaking through feels amazing!"

Red from head to toe, Ji Ruo swept out his palm. True energy surged through his Qi Vessel, joining the rushing flow of his blood and granting him peerless strength.

His palm turned red and black, blazing with roaring flames!

The searing heat cast a ruddy glow over Liang Shixian's face, while the flames flickered wildly in the gale high above—Qi Pulse Realm · special-effects martial art!

That Iron Sand Palm, which had been on the verge of Pure Mastery, finally displayed its true might with the aid of Qi Pulse true energy!

Holding the blazing flames, drenched in blood yet beaming, Ji Ruo cried, "Class monitor, quick, quick! Take a picture for me! I want to save this moment!"

Liang Shixian took the wristwatch in a daze and snapped a picture of Ji Ruo.

The background included Wind God Falcon Aunt, the two Little Wind God Falcons who had been startled awake by the commotion of Ji Ruo's breakthrough, and Little Rosie, who was visible only from behind, still busy munching on fruit.

[Check-in Check-in! Talent bonus increased to 2.5%.]

The two Little Wind God Falcons, Dabao and Erbao, weren't angry at being woken up so suddenly. Instead, they chirped excitedly as they circled Ji Ruo.

"Chirp~ chirp~ (You're on fire, you're on fire!)"

"Chirp~ (Amazing! Doesn't your hand burn?)"

Little Rosie kept her head down, stuffing herself.