Entry, Change

Lu Yuan did not tell Madam Yang about what happened last night.

Because doing so would be meaningless and would only cause Madam Yang to panic.

All he needed to do was train harder and strive to gain the strength to protect himself as quickly as possible.

"Roar... ha... heh..."

After arriving at Song Academy, Lu Yuan followed Chen Pi and the others to continue practicing the Five Animals Fist.

He had come alone today. Whether it was because Master Song valued him highly or for some other reason, Fang Chang seemed to have stayed in the Inner Courtyard last night and had yet to appear.

About an hour later, Lu Yuan successfully completed a full practice session of the Five Animals Fist.

In his mind, the golden characters on the Ancient Scroll changed once again.

[Five Animals Fist: Not Yet Initiated (35/100)]

After practicing the Five Animals Fist twice yesterday, his proficiency had reached 20.

He hadn't expected that his first practice session today would yield nearly as much progress as the previous two days combined.

At this rate, Lu Yuan was almost certain that he would be able to reach the initiation stage of the Five Animals Fist by tomorrow.

"Again!"

After resting for a while, Lu Yuan began practicing the Five Animals Fist once more.

[Five Animals Fist: Not Yet Initiated (60/100)]

Sure enough, after the second practice session today, his proficiency had increased significantly again.

"One day, I only need to wait one more day!"

Lu Yuan thought of the conversation between the two Black Tiger Gang thugs from last night, and a trace of coldness appeared in his eyes.

Unfortunately, not only was his body aching, but he also felt dizzy; clearly, his physical stamina had been exhausted to the limit, and he could no longer support a third practice session.

Otherwise, he would have definitely reached the initiation stage of the Five Animals Fist today!

"Good news!"

At this moment, Chen Pi suddenly walked over, looking excited, and said to the group, "Brother Hong just told me that Master Song intends to select the three best individuals from us Outer Courtyard apprentices for intensive training. As long as you can rank in the top three in tomorrow's strength test, you will receive a portion of meat every day!"

As soon as these words were spoken, almost everyone couldn't help but show expressions of surprise and joy.

One must know that their practice of the Five Animals Fist consumed energy at almost every moment.

Although eating ordinary meals and resting for a night was generally enough to barely recover, faster recovery required meat.

Unfortunately, they all came from humble backgrounds; even filling their stomachs with wild vegetables and coarse grains was difficult, let alone eating meat.

In this day and age, even if one had enough silver, one might not be able to buy good meat.

Now, not only did they have a chance to eat meat for free, but they could also receive a portion every day—how could they not be excited, and how could they not go crazy for it?

One by one, they rolled up their sleeves and began to train even harder, all for the sake of taking one of the top three spots tomorrow.

Lu Yuan was naturally quite expectant. After awakening the Practice Makes Perfect destiny, what limited his speed was no longer so-called talent or bottlenecks, but the resources that could help him recover his physical stamina.

If he could receive a portion of meat every day, he could practice the Five Animals Fist at least one extra time each day.

Practicing three times a day would naturally increase his speed even faster.

Since he could no longer continue practicing the Five Animals Fist today, Lu Yuan turned and walked out of the Song Academy.

For ordinary apprentices like them who could only practice in the Outer Courtyard, Master Song would neither teach them personally nor spend any effort on them; he wouldn't even ask if they were late, left early, or even slept at home all day.

Simply put, as long as the monthly tuition of one tael of silver was paid, he didn't care if they came or not.

As the saying goes, the master leads you to the door, but the cultivation depends on the individual.

Before returning home, Lu Yuan not only used his remaining silver to buy some food but also purchased some useful items for self-defense to be prepared for any emergencies.

Although he was almost certain that he would be able to reach the initiation stage of the Five Animals Fist tomorrow and possess a certain level of self-protection, he was, after all, facing two thugs who lived by the blade, so he had to ensure there were no mistakes.

In troubled times, if one wants to live longer, it is better to be cautious.

"Xiao Yuan, you aren't going to gamble, are you?"

The family of three sat at the table. Madam Yang looked at the food on the table and couldn't help but ask Lu Yuan with concern, "Our family once had a little bit of wealth, but who would have thought that your deadbeat father would get hooked on gambling? Not only did he lose all our family's assets, but he also ended up losing his own life."

"I won't!"

Lu Yuan quickly smiled and said, "I have made progress in my martial arts training, and I will soon be able to earn big money so that you and Nannan can live a good life!"

He naturally knew the dangers of gambling. Regardless of one's nature or status, once someone gets hooked on gambling, it is as if they have gone mad; they rarely stop until they have lost everything, even leading to the destruction of their family.

"That's good... that's good..."

Hearing this, a smile finally appeared on Madam Yang's face again, and she then focused on feeding Nannan.

After Lu Yuan finished eating, he went to bed early to rest and recharge for tomorrow's sprint.

The next day, Lu Yuan arrived at Song Academy bright and early.

He came alone as usual; Fang Chang seemed to have spent the night in the Inner Courtyard again.

Without wasting any time, Lu Yuan immediately began practicing the Five Animals Fist.

After completing the Tiger Stance, Deer Stance, Bear Stance, Ape Stance, and Crane Stance in sequence, he could clearly feel that although his physical energy was severely depleted after this session, a faint, warm current seemed to be circulating endlessly within his body.

And this, he realized, must be the qi and blood that Chen Pi had spoken of!

[Five Animals Fist: Novice (1/200)]

Looking back at the golden characters on the Ancient Scroll, they had indeed changed.

The three characters for "Not Yet Initiated" had transformed into the two characters for "Novice."

Although the proficiency cap had increased from 100 to 200, Lu Yuan did not feel that his future training speed would slow down because of it.

Because his destiny was Practice Makes Perfect, his speed would only increase the more he trained; each additional session would yield even more proficiency. Thus, even with the higher cap, his progress would continue to accelerate.

Most importantly, from this moment on, as he continued to practice the Five Animals Fist, he could truly begin to nourish and temper his qi and blood until it reached a level sufficient to support physical tempering.

"Although I have only just reached the novice level in the Five Animals Fist, I can clearly feel that my strength has increased quite a bit!"

Lu Yuan clenched his fist and performed a few simple tests.

Sure enough, his strength, speed, reaction time, and physical coordination all seemed to have improved significantly.

While he could not yet be considered reborn, and there was still a considerable gap between him and a true external-force martial artist, these changes, combined with his novice-level Five Animals Fist, were enough to easily handle ordinary people.

Lu Yuan did not make a scene, nor did he intend to show off; he simply prepared to continue his training in silence.

"Everyone, we will now begin the strength assessment!"

Just then, two youths emerged from the Inner Courtyard, one of whom was none other than Fang Chang.