Chen Lie didn't argue with his younger sister. After all, by Blue Star's standards, he really had been acting irresponsibly.
"Blood Essence Value Sprint Class" cost over a thousand Star Dollars per lesson. If he wasn't going to attend, what else could he be but a wastrel?
"I really couldn't make it. Go work out with your classmates. I've got something to take care of, so I'm leaving."
With that, Chen Lie turned and walked out of the Martial Arts Hall.
Chen Xingyao stood with her hands on her hips, looking furious, but she didn't chase after Chen Lie.
After all, several classmates were there. She didn't want to make a scene and become a laughingstock.
"Uh, Yaoyao, how can you treat your own brother like that?" Li Xianyu asked from the side.
"Mom signed both of us up for the Blood Essence Value Sprint Class. He's missed it several times, so I couldn't help saying a few things to him," Chen Xingyao replied.
"Blood Essence Value Sprint Class?"
Li Xianyu was puzzled. A powerhouse at her senior's level still needed to sign up for such a basic training class?
But then she thought about how her senior spent his time at Sunlight Group and met people like Zhao Jinglan, the Pearl of the Eight Provinces. By comparison, skipping class probably wasn't a big deal.
"Come on, let's stop talking about this and go practice together."
With that, a group of girls from the Key Class led Chen Xingyao and Li Xianyu to the training room.
Chen Xingyao practiced Combat Arts, while Li Xianyu practiced Cloud Smoke Steps.
An afternoon passed. As the girls prepared to leave the Martial Arts Hall together and head home, they reached a Blood Essence Detector. Li Xianyu suddenly stopped.
"Hey, Xianyu, why did you stop?" one of the girls behind her asked when she saw Li Xianyu standing still.
"I... I want to test my Blood Qi Value again," Li Xianyu said.
"Uh? Didn't we all get tested just a few days ago? Has your Blood Qi improved again?"
Li Xianyu shook her head and said to her classmates, "Wait for me. I'll be right back."
She remembered how Qu had estimated a few days ago that her Blood Qi Value would soon break 1. Suddenly, she really wanted to know whether it had increased again.
But she'd spent the past few days practicing Cloud Smoke Steps and hadn't done any workouts, so her Blood Qi might not have changed at all.
Li Xianyu stepped into the Blood Essence Detector's chamber and began the test.
A beam of light swept over her, and the detector announced the result.
"Beep. Test complete. Blood Qi Value: 0.98 ka."
Li Xianyu's heart jolted when she heard the result.
She hadn't exercised at all these past few days. How had her Blood Qi Value risen on its own?
No wonder the instructors at school repeatedly emphasized that mastering a martial art could make one's Blood Qi Value soar.
When Li Xianyu stepped out of the detector, she saw her classmates staring at her in shock.
"Xianyu, how did your Blood Qi Value increase so much? Wasn't it 0.91 ka just a few days ago? You're almost at 1 now!"
"It's because I mastered a C-Rank Martial Art. That's why my Blood Qi Value rose so quickly," Li Xianyu explained.
"You mastered a martial art? So it's true that mastering one can make your Blood Qi Value soar!
"By the way, did your sister from the Elite Class teach you that martial art? That's amazing!"
At those words, Li Xianyu glanced at Chen Xingyao with a complicated expression.
She saw Chen Xingyao standing there with a stiff expression, looking unhappy.
Li Xianyu understood. The two of them had always been competing, but neither had ever pulled ahead. Anyone would be upset to suddenly be overtaken.
Still, if she could, she'd rather trade places with Chen Xingyao. Chen Xingyao was the one sitting on a mountain of gold without knowing how to use it.
After saying goodbye to her classmates, Li Xianyu went home.
When she arrived, both her parents were there.
"Mom, Dad."
"Xianyu, you're back? How was Teacher Qu's Cloud Smoke Steps Guidance Class?" her mother asked.
Li Xianyu shook her head lightly. "Mom, I have some good news. My Blood Qi Value is already at 0.98 ka. I'll break 1 soon, and then I can use Blood Essence Fluid!"
"What? Wasn't your Blood Qi Value just 0.91 when you were tested a few days ago? How did it reach 0.98 so quickly? Are you sure?" Li Xianyu's mother asked, unconvinced.
"If you don't believe me, look. I got a certificate from Dongchuan Martial Arts Hall. I was tested there just now, and you can check it on the hall's official website too!"
As she spoke, Li Xianyu handed the certificate to her mother.
After reading it, her mother asked, "How did your Blood Qi Value suddenly increase so much?"
Li Xianyu immediately explained, "A few days ago, I went to sign up for the Cloud Smoke Steps Guidance Class and met the older brother of one of my classmates.
"He told me that for 100,000 Star Dollars, he could instruct me until I could use Cloud Smoke Steps with ease."
"Wait. You mean you didn't sign up for Teacher Qu's Cloud Smoke Steps Guidance Class? Instead, you gave your classmate's older brother 100,000 Star Dollars to teach you Cloud Smoke Steps?"
Li Xianyu's father cut her off.
"Yes," Li Xianyu replied.
"Outrageous! He even swindled money out of a student. Come on, Xianyu. Dad will go with you and get that 100,000 Star Dollars back."
Li Xianyu's father leaped to his feet after slapping the coffee table in front of him.
"Dad, could you wait until I've finished explaining?"
Watching her father panic, Li Xianyu sighed and shook her head.
Her mother added, "That's right. Sit down and let Xianyu finish."
"Go on, Xianyu. Don't mind your dad."
Li Xianyu nodded and continued. "My classmate's older brother isn't much older than me. We're both students at Provincial Key High School, so he's my senior.
"Mom, you have no idea how amazing he is. He demonstrated Cloud Smoke Steps for me and split into more than ten afterimages. Even the instructors at the Martial Arts Hall haven't mastered it to that level. So I gave him the 100,000 Star Dollars right then and there.
"And guess what? He instructed me for just two days—five hours in total—and I mastered Cloud Smoke Steps to the point where I could use it with ease."
"Really?" Li Xianyu's mother asked, amazed.
Mastering a C-Rank Martial Art in two days sounded utterly impossible.
"Of course it's true. Under his guidance, I could feel my footwork improving by leaps and bounds every moment.
"It's because I mastered Cloud Smoke Steps that my Blood Qi Value suddenly increased so much."
"So this classmate's older brother is even more skilled than your sister?" Li Xianyu's mother asked, unable to help herself. They were both students at Provincial Key High School. No matter how talented he was, surely he couldn't be that much better. After all, her eldest daughter was one of the top Elite Students.
"How could my sister compare to my senior? I suspect my senior may even be more skilled than the members of the Provincial Youth Genius Group!"
"Impossible!" Li Xianyu's father declared at once. "The only people more skilled than the Provincial Youth Genius Group are members of the Provincial Youth Genius Group themselves. But out of the twenty or thirty million youths in Dongchuan Province, how many make it into the East River Provincial Genius Group?
"Members of the East River Provincial Genius Group enjoy preferential access to the province's martial arts resources. Why would they covet your 100,000 Star Dollars?"
"Hmph! I saw it with my own eyes. Zhao Jinglan, the Sunlight Group president they call the 'Rising Star of the Business World, Pearl of the Eight Provinces' on TV, treated my senior with the utmost deference. Would members of the Provincial Youth Genius Group get that kind of treatment?"
Li Xianyu's mother looked puzzled. "What exactly did you see? Tell me all about it."
"The day before yesterday, my senior took me to Sunlight Group on business. That's when I found out he was an honored guest of the group's president.
"Zhao Jinglan personally hosted us in the Sunlight Group restaurant.
"At one point, we heard that a member of the Provincial Youth Genius Group named Xu Yuanhao wanted to meet Zhao Jinglan. Her assistant even urged her to see him, saying that Xu Yuanhao was a Grandmaster Seed and a member of the Xu Family.
"But Zhao Jinglan refused outright. She said being a Grandmaster Seed didn't guarantee he'd become a Grandmaster, and she was busy hosting my senior, so she had no time to see Xu Yuanhao."
When Li Xianyu finished, her parents looked at each other, both seeing disbelief in the other's eyes.
"Then why didn't you invite your senior over for dinner?" Li Xianyu's mother asked.
"I did, but my senior turned me down because he's so busy. I feel like the five hours he spent teaching me Cloud Smoke Steps were stolen from an already packed schedule," Li Xianyu said.
"By that logic, your classmate must be very talented too, right?"
"Our Blood Qi Values have always been about the same. But today I realized that she and her brother don't get along very well. She probably hasn't had much guidance from him. Otherwise, her Blood Qi Value would've left mine in the dust long ago."
"That is strange. Your sister never mentioned anyone so impressive in the Elite Class," Li Xianyu's mother said, puzzled.
She had no doubt that her precious daughter was telling the truth. If even Zhao Jinglan, the president of Sunlight Group, was willing to set aside her status and associate with him, his martial arts talent had to be extraordinarily exceptional.
"Anyway, it was my senior's guidance that helped me master Cloud Smoke Steps. As for my sister? All she can do is teach me Combat Arts."
Li Xianyu curled her lip.
You couldn't compare people. She used to think her sister was amazing, but after meeting Chen Xingyao's older brother, she felt her sister was a disappointment, able to throw her weight around only in the Elite Class.
"That's true. This will greatly accelerate your Blood Qi Value's progress. Your mom and I will order Blood Essence Fluid for you right away. Let's get you to 3 and into the Elite Class as soon as possible!" Li Xianyu's mother encouraged her.
Meanwhile, Chen Lie returned home and found that his mother, Feng Yuelan, was there too.
When she saw Chen Lie, Feng Yuelan said, "Chen Lie, you need to work out more. If your Blood Qi Value doesn't break 3 and get you into the Elite Class within a month, you'll have to listen to Mom and take Blood Essence Fluid."
"I know."
Chen Lie nodded but didn't show his father the Elite Student ID.
His Blood Qi Value was increasing far beyond the accepted norms on Blue Star, defying what its people believed possible. His mother would never accept it, so Chen Lie planned to come clean after a while, when he found the right opportunity.
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