After Chen Lie left, Li Xianyu saw it was still early and kept practicing at the Martial Arts Hall.
Using the center of the Drill Ground as her starting point, she ran through Cloud Smoke Steps on her own.
As her footwork improved rapidly, she seemed to grasp the essence of Cloud Smoke Steps. She felt as though she had become a wisp of smoke, a drifting cloud, weaving across the Drill Ground.
After completing the sequence, Li Xianyu exclaimed in shock, "I actually made it through the entire Cloud Smoke Steps routine?"
It seemed she really had brought this C-Rank Martial Art to a beginner's level.
She had practiced for more than half a year before this and had still been a complete novice. Without an instructor beside her, she could never have performed the whole routine. Even with a teacher guiding her, she had made mistake after mistake, stopping and starting all the way through.
Yet after two hours of guidance from Chen Lie, she had performed Cloud Smoke Steps alone without a single mistake.
Had Chen Xingyao's brother passed his own training insights on to her?
The improvement was plain to see. Was this how a genius trained? She really couldn't compare, no matter how often her parents, teachers, and classmates called her one.
Seeing such obvious progress made Li Xianyu even more motivated. She practiced Cloud Smoke Steps over and over, hoping to improve further.
But without Chen Lie's guidance, she could no longer recapture that almost miraculous feeling she had experienced earlier. Still, she grew more and more familiar with the steps.
Just as Li Xianyu was completely absorbed in her practice, she suddenly heard a voice.
"Not bad. Not bad at all!"
Li Xianyu hurriedly stopped practicing and looked toward the voice.
A short-haired, middle-aged man was watching her and applauding softly.
"Instructor Qu?"
Li Xianyu straightened at once. She recognized him as Qu Xinyou, the instructor whose Cloud Smoke Steps Guidance Class she had wanted to sign up for yesterday.
"Oh, it's you, Li Xianyu. I was wondering who had brought Cloud Smoke Steps to such an accomplished level."
Seeing her face, Qu Xinyou gave a slight nod.
"Hello, Instructor Qu."
Li Xianyu greeted him respectfully.
Instructor Qu's name was Qu Xinyou. He taught an Elite Class at a provincial key high school and worked part-time as an instructor at Dongchuan Martial Arts Hall.
Li Xianyu knew him as her older sister's teacher in the Elite Class. Because of her sister, she had taken several short sessions of Teacher Qu's Cloud Smoke Steps Guidance Class.
"A few days ago, your sister came to me for a letter of introduction to the Cloud Smoke Steps Guidance Class. Yesterday, I wondered why you hadn't brought it to me to sign up. So you'd secretly trained Cloud Smoke Steps to this level on your own.
"That makes sense. You've already got a general grasp of it. Even if you came to me now, I'm afraid there wouldn't be much I could teach you.
"It seems you're even more talented than your sister," Qu Xinyou said.
"Thank you for the compliment, Instructor Qu." Li Xianyu nodded slightly.
Qu Xinyou asked, "What's your Blood Qi Value now?"
"When they measured everyone at school recently, mine was 0.91 Ka."
Qu Xinyou nodded repeatedly. "I watched you for a while just now. You've only just mastered Cloud Smoke Steps, haven't you?"
"Yes."
Qu Xinyou said, "Now that you've mastered a C-Rank Martial Art, your Blood Qi Value is bound to rise quickly. Train diligently, and make sure you get enough nutrition. If I'm right, you'll pass 1 Ka within ten days.
"When you get home, ask your parents to prepare the Blood Essence Fluid and supplements you'll need once you pass 1 Ka. Aim to enter the Elite Class before winter break.
"And if you haven't settled on an Elite Class mentor by then, how about signing up under me when you advance?"
Pass 1 Ka within ten days? Enter the Elite Class before winter break?
Li Xianyu felt dazed. Was her Blood Qi Value really going to rise that much faster?
Her parents' plan had been for her to pass 1 Ka within two months of the new term after winter break, then pass 3 Ka and enter the Elite Class before the end of her first year of high school. That plan already put plenty of pressure on her. She had never imagined getting there ahead of schedule.
"Oh, all right. I'll think about it. Thank you, Instructor."
Qu Xinyou nodded. "It's getting late, and the Martial Arts Hall is about to close. Practice a little longer, then head home. Improving Cloud Smoke Steps takes time, especially now that you've gained an initial grasp of the footwork."
"All right." Li Xianyu nodded.
After giving Li Xianyu a few more reminders, Qu Xinyou left the Martial Arts Hall's training ground.
Once he was gone, Li Xianyu resumed practicing Cloud Smoke Steps.
She had only just reached the beginner's level, so she ought to keep practicing while everything was still fresh.
After a while, Li Xianyu checked the time and saw that the Martial Arts Hall was about to close. She decided to go home.
But when she reached the entrance on the first floor, she remembered Qu Xinyou saying that mastering a C-Rank Martial Art would raise her Blood Qi Value. She couldn't resist turning back toward the Blood Essence Detector.
Her teachers and parents had all told her not to measure her Blood Qi Value too often, since it could affect her mindset. Once a month was best. It had been less than five days since her last measurement, and she hadn't done any training over the past few days. By all rights, her Blood Qi Value couldn't have increased.
But after what Qu Xinyou had said, she decided to try it once. Even if her Blood Qi Value hadn't budged, a single test shouldn't affect her mindset.
She stepped into the Blood Essence Detector's chamber, and beams of light began scanning her body.
A moment later, the scan finished and the device announced the result.
"Beep. Scan complete. Blood Qi Value: 0.94 Ka."
As the chamber opened, Li Xianyu stood there in a daze.
"0.94 Ka? How did my Blood Qi Value rise so much all of a sudden?"
She stepped out of the chamber and stared blankly at the bright red number above the detector.
Even if she trained hard for three days straight, exhausting herself each day, her Blood Qi Value might not rise by 0.01 Ka. At her age, her body couldn't withstand three days of such intense training anyway.
Her Blood Qi Value had only just reached 0.91 Ka. Without any training, it had climbed to 0.94 Ka in a matter of days.
More importantly, that 0.03 Ka increase was only the beginning.
Was this the effect mastering a C-Rank Martial Art had on her body?
She thought about how she had mastered a C-Rank Martial Art after less than two hours of guidance. And the one who had guided her was her classmate's older brother.
With a brother like him, couldn't Chen Xingyao receive that sort of guidance all the time?
"Chen Xingyao, you really are lucky."
She and Chen Xingyao were indeed close friends. They usually studied and trained together; otherwise, she would never have asked Chen Lie to hold a place in line for her.
But beneath that friendship, they were fierce rivals. Their grades were on the same level, and they were the top two students in the Key Class. They had even passed the 0.9 Ka threshold just one day apart.
They might be the top two, but neither wanted to come second.
Now Li Xianyu had mastered a C-Rank Martial Art after just two hours of guidance, and her Blood Qi Value was rising rapidly. Yet Chen Xingyao, who had always had access to such guidance, had a Blood Qi Value about the same as hers.
Li Xianyu couldn't help wondering if Chen Xingyao wasn't all that talented after all. Was it only because she had a brother who could guide her martial arts training that she had managed to keep pace?
Li Xianyu left the Martial Arts Hall and wandered home.
When she came in, she saw her older sister, Li Muge, standing outside the Practice Room.
"Yuyu, you're back! Didn't you say you wanted to learn Combat Arts a few days ago?
"I was too busy to make time for you then, but I'm free today. Come on, I'll teach you in the Practice Room."
Li Muge walked over as soon as she saw her.
Li Xianyu snapped out of her tangled thoughts, rolled her eyes at Li Muge, and said with a pout, "Combat Arts is the only thing you know how to teach."
With that, Li Xianyu went straight to her room without looking back.
"Huh?"
Li Muge looked utterly baffled.
She was one of the Elite Class's top students. Her younger sister had always respected her and often pestered her for guidance with her martial arts training. So why did it feel like her sister was looking down on her today?
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